


The Road Before US

by Whatif_ifonly



Series: The Roads Series [4]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:04:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 159,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whatif_ifonly/pseuds/Whatif_ifonly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to 'The Road Not Taken' and 'Two Roads Diverged' Companion fic to 'Though The Road Was Never Smooth' JJ and Spence continue on the road before them, each day brand new and never seen before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

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"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

 

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JJ sighed as she woke up and wiggled back against Spence, who was wrapped around her, spooning against her back.

"You shouldn't do that unless you want us to pick right up where we left off last night." Spence mumbled against his wife's neck, where his face was buried. His arm rested across her belly while his hand rubbed small circular patterns on her belly.

"Mm, I have no complaints with starting the day that way." JJ moaned as she wiggled her hips back against her husband's groin.

"JJ, baby" Spence groaned low in his throat at the feel of JJ wiggling her hips back against him, and then he began lightly kissing her neck, while his hand shifted to hip, and he lightly traced a trail across her thigh between her hip and her knee withhis fingers, over and over.

JJ gasped as her husband's fingers suddenly stopped the teasing trail they had been tracing and moved to her center and continued teasing.

 

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"I love you" Spence said in the aftermath, kissing her shoulder and then lifting his head to place a soft kiss on his wife's lips.

"I love you too." JJ replied as she reached up and pushed Spence's sweaty bangs off of his forehead. "Come on, let's take a quick shower. Chloe and Henry will be awake soon." She said scooting to the edge of their bed.

Spence smiled and stood up, coming around the other side of the bed and offering JJ a hand up.

They had no more than gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed, than they heard the sounds of their waking children from down the hall.

"I think it sounds like a certain little girl and a certain little boy remember that Daddy promised to take them to the aquarium today." JJ said with a smile as she pulled her hair back in a ponytail.

"Hm… are you sure you don't want me to help you with Christmas shopping?" Spence asked as he wrapped his arms around her and nibbled on her neck.

"And how am I supposed to buy your Christmas present if you're with… besides I'm sure Morgan will appreciate having another big boy besides Hotch and Will along to play with." JJ said smirking in the mirror. "and you did promise Chloe and Henry."

"You're right" Spence said lifting his head to look at their image in the mirror. "It's going to be fun to see what they think of all the real life fish." Spence said and then headed to round up Chloe and Henry for breakfast.

 

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"Okay guys tell Mommy bye bye." Spence said as he helped Henry into his coat, hat, and mitten and then stood up with the little boy in his arms so that he could reach Mommy.

"Bye bye Mama!" Henry said excitedly as he leaned from Daddy's arms to kiss Mommy on the cheek. All he'd talked about all morning was getting to go see Nemo, Crush, and Squirt at the aquarium with Daddy. Or in Henry's words, 'Memo, Cwush, and Skurt'… either way he was excited.

"Bye Mommy" Chloe said as JJ knelt down and help her finish zipping up her coat and pulled her hat and mittens on and then kissed the little girl on the nose.

"Bye baby. Have fun playing with your friends." JJ said with a smirk as she stoo up and leaned in to kiss Spence good bye and then moaned softly as their lips pulled away from each other's.

"I will." Spence replied softly against her lips. "But can you, Emily, and Elle try and keep an eye on Penelope? Now that she knows the baby is a boy…" He said trailing off.

JJ chuckled. "We're going to do our best. The three of us already made a pact, at no time is she to be left alone and unsupervised. The space in our children's closets and toy boxes depends on it."

Spence chuckled and leaned in and kissed JJ one more time. "Have fun. See you later. I love you."

"Mm…" JJ moaned as he pulled away. "I love you too... all three of you." she said with a smile at her bundled up family.

"Dada, we go now? See Memo?" Henry asked.

"Yeah buddy we're going to go see Nemo now. You know what else?" he asked as he looked down at Chloe. "Jack is coming too."

"Jack?" Chloe asked.

"Yep." Daddy said popping the p. "Uncle Aaron, Jack, Avery, and Seth are meeting us there and so are Uncle Derek and Jake, and Uncle Will and Billy."

"Yay!" Chloe cheered as they headed out the door at the thought of seeing all of her favorite playmates.

"Yay!" Henry cheered joining in on the opportunity to make some fun noisy sounds.

JJ smiled as she watched Spence help both of their children into their car seats and to get buckled in. then he climbed in and buckled up himself, waving to her as he backed out of the driveway and heading off to meet up at the aquarium with the rest of the guys and the kids.

 

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"So what all do you have left on your list peaches?" Pen asked as they all sat comparing the remaining items on their lists and which stores they needed go to.

"Nothing. I've been done shopping for about a month." JJ replied with a smile.

"You've been… you're … done?" Pen stammered in shock attempting to find the words.

"Pen, this is my third time being pregnant during the holiday season. I learned my lesson the first time around when I had to tell Spence that all he was getting for Christmas was a baby girl… at least he was okay with it." JJ replied. "Now obviously, I don't have to worry about going into labor before I finish my Christmas shopping, but it was also easier to get it done weeks ago." JJ said with a shrug. "I just came along to get out of the house and spend time with you guys. That's not to say if something catches my eye that it won't be going home with me to be found under the tree."

Elle and Emily shook their heads. Of course their former media liaison who could write a press release, book hotel reservations for seven, go through one hundred case files, and help out with a case in the field all at the same time had already finished her Christmas shopping. It was no wonder that the Pentagon had stolen her away.

"How about you Pen? What do you have left on your list?" JJ asked.

"I don't have a list either. I just know what to get when I see it." Penelope responded.

Somehow that didn't surprise Emily or Elle either.

"PG its okay to admit that you are always on the lookout for the perfect Christmas gift and that you shop throughout the year," Emily said, "along with birthdays, weddings, honeymoons, Halloween, baby showers and any other opportune time for gift giving. After all, that's the only thing that explains the fabulous bikini you gave me to wear on the beach when we went on our honeymoon in March. You can't find a decent swim suit in March if you owned a surf shop, let alone a bikini."

"Okay so what about you girls?" Pen asked looking pointedly looking at Elle and Emily.

Elle and Emily looked at each other and then reached into their purses and pulled out their lists handing them over to JJ and Pen who looked them over and then leaned close together comparing the list.

"Well it's decided." Pen said as she took the final sip of her Orange Julius and rose from the table they were seated at in the food court.

"And what is the verdict PG?" Emily asked.

"Considering the only people you and Elle have left to shop for are your husbands" Penelope said with a quirk of an eyebrow behind the funky frames of her glasses "We're going to Victoria Secret's. It won't matter if they were on the naughty list or the nice list, either way you're covered. Jayje might just find a little something to take home and put under her tree that stops a certain genius' brain mid computation, and like you said, I'm always looking for an opportunity to give gifts, especially the kind that keep on giving.

The ladies all chuckled as they stood from their seats, gathered their packages, and prepared to go once more into the fray of harried Christmas shoppers.

 

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All of the kids ooed, aahed, and squealed with glee as they paused in the glass tunnel of the indoor aquarium to watch as the fish, sharks, and sea turtles swam all around them. They pointed out all of the different fish and sea creatures. They all except for Billy and Seth got to feed some fish.

After several hours of excitement while out and about at the aquarium, it was time for the exhausted little ones to go home. Even Jack was dragging by the time they were re-bundling to go home.

JJ turned to look at the entry way, from her spot on the couch where she was relaxing with her feet up when she heard the front door open and the sounds of Spence, Chloe and Henry talking to each other as coats, hats, and mitten were removed and put away.

A few minutes later a noticeably tired Chloe and Henry came into the living room with Daddy.

"Hi guys" JJ said looking at Chloe and Henry. "Did you have fun seeing all the fish and animals at the aquarium with Daddy?" she asked.

Chloe nodded from where she stood next to Mommy's leg and Henry nodded in Daddy's arms and then laid his head down on Daddy's shoulder.

"Tell you what guys, why don't you sit with Mommy and tell her all about our day and I'll make us some dinner. You guys are still hungry right?" he asked as he sat Henry next to Mommy on one side and then picked Chloe up and sat her on the other side of Mommy.

Again Chloe and Henry nodded in unison and then turned to look at Mommy and began to tell her about their day. JJ could tell how tired her babies were because instead of their usual enthusiasm, they were incredibly quiet. She supposed though, it had been a very long day for them at the aquarium, as they didn't get a nap today.

When Spence came to tell them dinner was ready Chloe and Henry had both snuggled into Mommy's side and were talking to the baby while she held them close. JJ looked up at Spence. "I hope made something quick and not too messy. I don't think we'd make it through baths tonight."

"Hot dogs, mixed fruit, and carrots, quick and easy cooking and cleanup." Spence said as he bent over in front of JJ and picked up Chloe and Henry and the family headed to the kitchen for dinner. "I made us sandwiches." He added as they walked. "You just didn't look like you were in a hot dog and carrots kind of mood."

"Oh man down, man down." Daddy called out as Henry's head began to bob as he struggled to finish his dinner. He looked over and saw that Chloe was in the same predicament. "Okay guys, legs go get you cleaned up and in some nice warm jammies huh?" he said as he moved their plates away from them.

JJ wiped their hands and faces and then Spence scooped them both up and the family headed upstairs to get ready for bed. Both of the little ones were asleep before they were even completely in their pajamas.

 

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JJ sighed. "Baby that feels so good." She moaned as Spence used his thumb on the arch of her left foot while he gave her a foot rub as they relaxed on the couch.

"Feel better?" he asked as he finished rubbing her foot.

"Mm hm, but now I think we should go to bed. Who knows what time Chloe and Henry are going to wake up tomorrow morning with going to bed as early as they did." JJ said to Spence as he stood up from the couch.

"I know. They are going to be talking non-stop about the aquarium tomorrow… they loved it." Spence said as he stretched his arms overhead and then reached down to help JJ up off of the couch. "Come on, we need to rest up if we're going to keep up with them tomorrow." He said as he pulled her up and then led her up the stairs to their bedroom where they climbed under the covers, snuggled up, and dreamt sweet dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

JJ sat curled up in the window seat, watching out the window while Spence played in the snow with Chloe and Henry. She couldn't even have imagined this being their life five years ago when she sat next to Diana looking at Spence's baby book and the cute pictures of him bare on a bear skin rug. JJ giggled to herself as she remembered how mortified Spence had been to find his Mom showing his girlfriend that picture. Then she smiled to herself, remembering how that Christmas had been when Caitlyn had started calling Spence, Uncle Spencer.

 

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Caitlyn looked up at JJ and pulled on her hand to get her attention. 

"What is it sweetie?" JJ asked bending over and picking up the little girl.

"I has a secret to ask you." Caitlyn said.

"Oh Okay. Go ahead" JJ said tipping her head down so Caitlyn could reach.

As Caitlyn whispered her question in JJ ear, JJ eyes got big and her eyebrows rose on her forehead. She glanced at her brother and Kim to see their reactions. Both were biting their lips and nodding their heads yes and looking very amused.

JJ turned to look at Caitlyn. "OK, do you want to ask him yourself?" JJ said.

Caitlyn nodded her head yes while shyly biting her lip.

JJ chuckled. She settled Caitlyn on her hip and reached to her side and grabbed Spence's hand. He should be sitting down for this. "Come on Spence." she said pulling him behind her to go sit on the couch.

Once Spence was seated she placed Caitlyn in his lap and sat beside him holding his hand. Seeing the confused look on his face, JJ explained "Caitlyn has something she wants to ask you." 

"Go ahead sweetie" She said to Caitlyn

"Tan I tall you Untle 'Pencer?" Caitlyn asked Spence with a very innocent and open expression on her face.

 

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JJ smiled as she looked out the window and saw Chloe and Henry dancing around Daddy and the snowman they'd built while Daddy put the snowman's face in place. She rubbed her belly where the baby was kicking and smiled fondly as the memories continued to wash over her.

 

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JJ was knelt down on the living room floor, wearing a Santa hat as she wrapped presents. She sent Spence to the store for eggnog to get him out of the house so that she could wrap his presents. 

When 'Santa Clause Is Coming To Town' came on over the radio, JJ couldn't help but start to hum along to the first verse.

You better watch out  
You better not cry  
Better not pout  
I'm telling you why  
Santa Claus is coming to town 

But by the time the second verse came on over the radio, she was singing along as she tied ribbons across packages and used a pair of scissors to create curly queues at the ends of the ribbons.

He's making a list  
And checking it twice;  
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice

And of course that was the exact moment that Spence walked in the house, as she was bent over placing ribbons and bows on the last of the packages and sliding them under the tree, wearing her Santa hat, and singing about Santa coming to town and his naughty and nice lists.

Spence paused in the doorway to the leaving room. Even after being with JJ for over a year and a half now, she never ceased to take his breath away. He cleared his throat, letting JJ know that he was back as he leaned against the doorway. "I've got the eggnog you wanted, but I really don't understand why it couldn't wait until we went to the store this weekend." 

JJ turned to look over her shoulder at Spence and chuckled. "Well I couldn't very well wrap your presents with you here."

Spence's eyes lit up playfully. "Isn't a little early for Santa to be here?" He asked nodding towards the Santa hat resting on her head.

JJ grinned as she stood up and stalked towards her boyfriend. "Well, I had to check which list you're supposed to be on." JJ said as she reached Spence and rested her hands on his stomach, her thumbs rubbing tiny circles.

"So what were you able to determine?" Spence asked softly as he looked down at his girlfriend.

"Hm" JJ murmured softly as she slid her hands up his chest to wrap around his neck and stood up on tip toes. "Santa will definitely be coming to visit you this year. You've been a very good boy." She said then leaned up to kiss him.

Spence moaned as JJ leaned up on her tip toes to kiss him and the white fur trim of her Santa hat brushed across his forehead, and he gripped onto her hips to balance himself as the kiss became more intense.

"But right now, I think we should be nice n' naughty." JJ whispered in his ear and then tugged on his earlobe with her teeth as she let her hands slide down Spence's chest. JJ slipped her fingers through the belt loops of her boyfriend's cords and led him back to their couch, turning as they reached it and pushing him back to sit on the couch. Then she climbed onto the couch as well, one knee straddling either side of his slim hips as she lowered herself into his lap.

Spence tightened his grip on JJ hips as their lips met in a heated kiss…

 

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JJ was startled out of her thoughts by her family trouping in from out in the snow and the cold and unbundling their layers.

"Mommy!" Chloe exclaimed happily as she tromped into the living room and made her way to where Mommy sat in the window seat and climbed up next to her. "You see our 'nowman?" she asked.

JJ smiled as she looked down at Chloe. "I did baby girl. You guys did a really good job building him."

"Daddy helped." Chloe said as she scooted close to Mommy and snuggled.

JJ laughed as she wrapped an arm around Chloe. "Oh sweetie, brrr. Aren't you cold?" she asked and then felt Chloe's head nod against her.

"What do you say we see if Daddy and Henry want hot chocolate to warm up?" JJ asked as she brushed Chloe's bangs out of her face.

"Wif canny canes?" Chloe asked.

"Sure you can use a candy cane to stir your hot chocolate." JJ said as she stood up and held out her hand to Chloe, who took her hand and then stood up on the window seat and jumped off.

JJ smiled looking down at Chloe as they walked towards the kitchen. It was hard to believe she'd been their Christmas baby just three short years ago.

 

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The family stood looking at the freshly decorated Christmas tree that stood in the corner of the room beside the fireplace. The light from the fire burning in the hearth was glinting and reflecting off of the ornaments on the tree, while the lights on the tree twinkled merrily. JJ hung the final ornament, baby's first Christmas, engraved with Chloe's name and the year, and then stepped back to enjoy the view of the tree.

"It's beautiful." JJ said her hands resting on Spence's arms that were wrapped around her waist.

"Mmhmm" Spence murmured into her ear as he kissed the soft skin just behind his wife's ear.

JJ turned her head to look at Spence "Baby, you aren't even looking at the tree."

"I know" Spence said smiling at JJ. "but, it's beautiful too."

"I love you." JJ whispered as she leaned in kissing him softly and then resting her forehead against his.

"Love you too." Spence whispered back.

Spence laughed as rounded the corner into the living room with a cup of coffee for himself and a cup of tea for JJ. JJ sat with Chloe in the midst of the living room floor piled high with shredded wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, boxes, and the other remnants of the orgy of greed that had taken place not that long ago. He smiled watching JJ holding their daughter while watching their nieces playing with their new toys, delivered by Santa last night, of course.

 

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Thoughts of Chloe's first Christmas naturally flowed into thoughts of Henry's first Christmas just a year later.

 

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"Is Chloe going to sit on Santa's lap too?" Caitlyn asked.

"Oh I don't know, sweetie. Sometimes it takes Chloe a minute to adjust to new people we'll have to see." JJ said as she rubbed Henry's back and glanced over her shoulder at where Spence stood behind her, holding Chloe and talking with Alex while they waited in line for the girls to visit Santa.

Before long, it was the Jareau/Reid clan's turn with Santa. Caitlyn and Madison both sat on Santa's lap and shared what they hoped to find under the tree on Christmas morning.

"Chloe, do you want to sit on Santa's lap?" JJ asked when she saw Chloe watching her cousins sitting on Santa's lap.

Chloe looked back and forth between Mommy and Daddy, not really quite sure about the guy in the big red suite whose lap all the kids were climbing on and off of.

Spence climbed up the steps with Chloe in his arms and tentatively seated Chloe on Santa's lap, not quite sure how she was going to react.

Chloe's lower lip quivered while she tried to decide what she thought of the whole experience. "Dada?" she said.

"You're okay Chloe. Daddy's right here." Spence said resting a hand on her back.

Chloe tipped her head back to look at Daddy. "Mama?" She questioned.

"Mommy's right there Chloe." Spence said pointing out JJ in the crowd of people below. 

"Hehry?" Chloe asked.

Spence smiled. "Mommy's got Henry, princess."

"Henry?" Santa asked.

"Her baby brother." Spence said glancing up at Santa.

Santa chuckled. "Well if Mommy wants to come up here with Henry, I bet we could all squeeze together so that you could have a nice family Christmas photo." Santa said.

Moments later Spence was looking over JJ's should at their family photo with Santa. Chloe was grinning cheerfully from Santa's lap as Daddy knelt down next to her. Henry's eyes were open as he gazed about at his surroundings while Mommy tipped him up so that his face could by the camera as she knelt down in front of Chloe and Spence. Santa, of course, was his normal, jolly self in the photo.

 

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"Hey JJ" Spence said as he leaned in and gave her a kiss. "You haven't seen Henry have you?" he asked with a wink.

JJ looked at her baby boy slung over his Daddy's shoulder and wondered what game they'd started playing when they came back in the house. Then she looked back at Spence. "No I haven't seen him since I watched you guys outside building the snowman. You didn't accidentally lose him in a snow bank did you?"

Henry giggled from where he hung over Daddy's shoulder and then let out a little boy version of a fierce scary growl.

"Hmm, no. No." Spence said shaking his head. "I know we didn't lose him in a snow bank. But I'm worried because we finished building the snowman and then all of a sudden Henry was gone and this scary monster here was in his place." Spence said wiggling the shoulder Henry was hanging over. "I think it might have eaten Henry." Spence mock whispered. "So I brought it in the house. I didn't want it to get away."

"Oh." JJ said with a smile, winking at Spence. "That's too bad about Henry. Chloe and I were just going to see if you and Henry wanted to join us for hot chocolate. But I hear hot chocolate isn't good for monsters."

Henry popped up from where he dangled over Daddy's shoulder. "I no monstew. I Henwy!"

Spence pulled Henry up from over his shoulder and held the boy out in front of him, as if studying him. "Are you sure you're Henry and not the monster trying to trick us?"

"Dada" Henry screeched and laughed as he wiggled and giggled.

"He looks like Henry and he sounds like Henry, but how can we be sure?" Spence said as he smiled at JJ.

"Hmm" JJ said and reached out her fingers and tickled Henry's exposed belly where his sweat shirt had ridden up causing the little boy to laugh and squirm.

"Mama no tickwe" he said as he laughed and squirmed.

JJ laughed. "It must be Henry. He is the only giggle box I know who laughs like that." She said reaching out and taking Henry from Spence and resting him on her hip.

"Mama we have hot chocit?" Henry asked as he looked up at Mommy with his big blue eyes.

"Yes we're going to have hot chocolate," She said as she leaned down and kissed Henry on the forehead and the nose, "because you and your sister are both freezing. Brr."

Then Spence bent over and scooped Chloe up into his arms. "Are you cold princess?"

Chloe nodded her head as she snuggled into Daddy's chest and the nice warm fleece pullover he was wearing.

Once Chloe and Henry were seated in their booster seats and occupied with some animal crackers, JJ and Spence worked together to make hot chocolate. Spence grabbed the milk out of the fridge and poured some in a pan, handing it to JJ. Then he reached up and grabbed cups, the cocoa mix. He smiled when he turned back around to look at JJ who was standing in front of the stove, one hand on her belly, and one hand stirring the milk so that it didn't scald to the bottom of the pan. After a quick check to make sure that Chloe and Henry were okay, he stepped up behind JJ and wrapped his arms around her seven month pregnant belly and nuzzled his nose against her neck.

 

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"A little to the right baby" JJ said as she sat with Henry in her lap and an arm around Chloe, who was seated next to her as they watched Daddy put up the Christmas tree. JJ for her part was enjoying the view of her husband's backside as he bent low under the branches of the tree on his hands and knees to adjust the tree in the tree stand.

"How's that?" Spence asked from under the branches of the tree.

"Perfect" JJ said as she looked at the full branched Douglas Fir tree that now stood in the corner of the living room, tucked off to the side of the fireplace at a safe enough distance for the flames and embers of the fireplace not to reach the tree. 

Spence stood up from underneath the tree and brushed his hands on his pants as he stood looking at the tree. JJ was right it did look perfect. The only thing that was going to make it look better was once they had it decorated, or finished decorating it that was, as he'd already strung the lights on it prior to pushing it into the corner and making the final adjustments.

He walked over to the couch where Chloe was sitting and picked her up, glad that he was finally without crutches or a cane and able to pick up and carry Chloe and Henry. "What do you say we put some decorations on the tree princess?" He asked as he leaned down pulling the lid off of a box of ornaments that sat on the coffee table. "Do you want to put this one on the tree?" He asked as he handed her the 'babies first Christmas' ornament that bore her name along with 2007, the year of her birth.

Chloe nodded her head. "Pwetty" she said as she looked down as the crystalline ornament in her hands. 

"Did you know this is your name?" Daddy asked as he pointed to where it said Chloe Jane Reid on the ornament.

JJ smiled and stood up with Henry in her arms and pulled his 'baby's first Christmas' ornament out of the box of ornaments and walked over to join Spence and Chloe where they stood next to the tree. 

"Okay, let's find a good spot for you and Henry to put your ornaments." Daddy said "How about right here on the middle of the tree. Can you hang it on this branch right here?" he asked as he leaned in close so Chloe could reach and then helped her settle her ornament on its home for the next couple weeks.

Once Spence and Chloe stepped back out of the way, JJ stepped up close to the tree and hung Henry's ornament for him on the branch next to Chloe's. "There, the two most important ornaments are on the tree now." JJ said with a smile as she turned to look at Spence. Then the family settled into decorating the tree with Mommy and Daddy helping Chloe and Henry with hanging the ornaments. 

 

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"Hey" Spence whispered in his wife's ear. "Where were you just now?"

JJ smiled as she turned to look at Spence. "I was thinking about Christmas last year. Actually I've been thinking about our last five Christmases together this afternoon."

Spence nodded and smiled. "They're the best five Christmases I've had, but each one was better than the last."

"I love you." JJ said leaning over to kiss Spence softly.

"I love you too." Spence replied and then rubbed her baby bump as he looked down into the pan where the milk was warming. "So are we almost ready for cocoa?"

"I think so." JJ said. "Here, try it and make sure that it's not too warm for them." She said holding a spoonful of warm milk out to Spence.

Spence sipped from the spoon and nodded. "It's the right temperature for Chloe and Henry, but we'll probably want to let it warm a little bit longer for us." He said as he tossed the spoon in the sink and grabbed a fresh one out of the drawer. Then he poured warm milk into Chloe and Henry's cups and mixed in hot chocolate mix and stirred.

"Is that good?" JJ asked as she and Spence sat at the table with Henry and Chloe while the family enjoyed their hot chocolate.

Henry sat down his cup and nodded his head.

JJ laughed at the hot chocolate mustache Henry was sporting on his upper lip. "What animal is this one baby?" she asked holding an animal cracker out to him.

"Wion!" Henry exclaimed.

"You're right, it is. You were a lion for Halloween weren't you?" JJ asked as she looked at Henry. "What sound does the lion make?"

"Rawr" Henry replied as he reached for the animal cracker.

"How about you princess? Do you like your hot chocolate?" Spence asked.

"Uh huh." Chloe said nodding as she wiggled and kicked her legs in her booster seat. "Daddy?"

"Chloe?" Spence responded playfully while making a funny face at his daughter.

"Tan we watch tartoons?" she asked.

"You want to watch cartoons?" Spence asked.

Chloe nodded.

"We'll have to see what's on. But just for a little bit, okay?" Spence asked. "But you have to finish your snack first."

A short bit later the Reid family was cuddled up on the couch together watching 'Frosty The Snowman'. Of course less than half-way through the movie Chloe and Henry fell asleep in their parents' laps.

Spence made a move to stand up with Chloe in his arms and carry her up to her bed for her nap, but JJ held out her hand to stop him. "Let's just sit here like this for a little bit." She said. "They're only going to be little like this for so long, let's just enjoy it, just for a little bit?"

Spence recognizing that JJ was feeling a little nostalgic at the thought of their babies growing up, nodded and sat back in his seat, reaching behind them to grab the throw blanket the rested on the back of the couch, and then spread it out over himself and JJ as well as Chloe and Henry who were in their laps. Then he wrapped his arm around JJ and she leaned her head on his shoulder and they quietly talked while Chloe Henry napped in their laps.

 

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"Okay" Spence said as he popped up from under the tree. "This one is Chloe's, and this one is Henry's." He said as he handed them their one present to open on Christmas Eve. "And this one is for Mommy." He continued as he put the last wrapped present in JJ's lap.

JJ smiled at Spence. "And this one is for Daddy." She said picking up the package she'd just wrapped earlier and placed it in his lap as he sat down next to her.

"Tan we open dem?" Chloe asked as she looked up at Mommy and Daddy.

JJ nodded. "Go ahead sweetie."

Spence and JJ laughed as they watched Chloe and Henry tear into the colorfully wrapped packages.

Chloe sucked in a gasp of air. "Tinker Bell Mommy!" Chloe said as she held up her new Christmas pjs to show Mommy.

"I see sweetie. Do you like them?" Mommy asked with a smile.

"Uh huh" Chloe said nodding her head. "Tan I wear dem tonight?"

"You sure can. They're your new Christmas pajamas." Mommy explained as she leaned down and kissed Chloe on the top of her head.

"What's on your pajamas Henry?" Daddy asked as Henry finished opening his present.

Henry's face looked puzzled for a minute. "Tuwtwes?" he asked as he looked up at Daddy.

"You're right buddy. They are turtles. Just like Crush and Squirt." Daddy said as he pointed to the sea turtles that were swimming across the front of the pajamas he'd gotten for Henry when they went to the aquarium the week before.

"Okay, how about we go take baths and put on our new pjs and then we need to leave out the cookies and milk for Santa and go to bed so Santa can come." Mommy said. "But first I think Daddy is going to read us a story."

Two freshly bathed and pajama clad toddlers helped Mommy and Daddy carry a plate of cookies and a glass of milk out and place it on a small table beside the fireplace where it would be easy for Santa to find and then they scampered up onto the couch to sit in between Mommy and Daddy while he read them a bed time story.

"Are you guys ready?" he asked as he looked down at Chloe and Henry. Seeing them nod, he then looked at JJ. "Is Mommy ready?"

JJ smiled and nodded.

"Okay" He said opening the brightly colored book and holding it out in front of Chloe and Henry so they could see the pictures. After all, with his eidetic memory, he could recite the story from memory. "'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there…"

JJ held the other side of the book and helped Spence by turning the pages as the family sat together reading the classic tale of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas'.

"But I heard him exclaim 'ere he drove out of sight, Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" Spence said as he recited the last two lines of the poem and watched JJ close the book.

When he and JJ looked down at Chloe and Henry, the two were cuddled up against each other, sound asleep.

Spence leaned forward placing the book on the coffee table and then he stood up and bent down to scoop Chloe up into his arms and rested her against one shoulder, then JJ helped him hoist Henry up onto his other shoulder and they made their way upstairs to tuck the currently youngest Reids into bed so that Santa could make his appearance.

After setting everything up for the morning, eating the cookies, and drinking the milk, Spence and JJ made their way upstairs to bed.

"Merry Christmas baby." JJ whispered in Spence's ear as they settled in bed and cuddled up together.

"Merry Christmas JJ." Spence replied leaning forward and kissing her softly as his hand slipped up under her pajama top and ran softly and reverently over her belly where the baby was kicking. Then he leaned down and pushed her pajama top up slightly and kissed her belly. "Merry Christmas to you too baby boy. Just think next year you'll be here to open presents with your big brother and big sister. They're super excited to see you in a few months, and so are Mommy and Daddy." He said and then continued to talk softly to the baby.

JJ ran her fingers through Spence's hair as he rested his head on her belly while he talked quietly with the baby, but she could still hear him. She had to agree with Spence's comment from earlier in the week. Each Christmas kept getting better and better. Perhaps that was because each year there was move love to share. Spending time with your loved ones was one of the most special parts of Christmas, whether it was a manger in Bethlehem, a chateau in France, an igloo in the Arctic Circle, a ski chalet in Aspen, or a house in the Washington DC area, or any other place people called home around the world.


	3. Chapter 3

Spence woke up in the same position he had fallen asleep in, with his head on JJ's belly while he had been talking to the baby. Apparently the baby thought it was time for Daddy to get up as he'd kicked him in the head.

Spence sat up while rubbing the side of his head, which mussed his unruly bedhead into further disarray. He glanced down at JJ, as she shifted and sighed while she settled into an apparently more comfortable position, and was glad to see that she was still asleep. He looked at the clock and made the decision to get up.

He ambled blearily down the hallway, the stairs, and through the house to the kitchen. He switched on the coffee pot. The only way to start any day, let alone a busy day like Christmas, was with coffee. It amazed him how his wife managed to go over two years without the blessed caffeinated beverage when she'd had Chloe almost immediately followed by Henry.

JJ stirred and reached over onto Spence's side of the bed as she prepared to snuggle closer, but when she found the other side of the bed empty, her eyes popped open and she turned to look at the clock. She pondered where her husband could be at 7 am.

No sooner had she turned back from looking at the clock, than the delightful smell of breakfast wafted its way to her nose. She smiled and sat up in bed just as the door of their bedroom opened revealing none other than her missing husband.

"Good morning." Spence said as he sat down next to JJ on her side of the bed holding a covered tray.

"Good morning baby" JJ replied leaning forward and kissing Spence softly on the lips. "I really want to know what you have there" she said nodding towards the tray in Spence's hands, "but first, I really have to pee."

Spence laughed and set the tray on the night stand and then stood up and helped JJ to her feet and watched her shuffle off to the bathroom.

"Thank you for breakfast" JJ said leaning over to kiss Spence as she finished the French toast, fruit, and bacon that he had made her for breakfast. "Mm you taste like coffee." She moaned as she pulled away from his lips.

Spence smiled. "I figured once the munchkins wake up and see what Santa brought; they'll want to play for a little bit before eating, but you should eat sooner than that." He said as he leaned over JJ and sat the tray holding the empty breakfast dishes back on the night stand, and then settled in next to his wife on the bed.

JJ smiled. "Shh listen." She whispered as she cuddled up next to Spence.

The soft sound of feet padding down the hallway could be heard. The feet stopped right outside their open bedroom door. Then a little gold curl covered head and big brown eyes peeked around the doorway.

Spence and JJ smiled at each other as they watched their three year old out of the corner of their eyes to see what she would do.

Seeing that Mommy and Daddy were awake, she stepped into the doorway. She took a half step forward, about to run over to the bed, but then remembered what Mommy and Daddy had told her about it being polite to knock before going in someone else's room.

JJ grinned at the very light tapping sound that Chloe's hand made as it slapped against their bedroom door and she looked over at where the little girl stood in the doorway. "Good morning Chloe!"

"Tan I tome in?" Chloe asked.

JJ nodded. "Come on sweetie, you can snuggle with Mommy and Daddy while we wait for Henry to wake up."

"Otay!" Chloe cheered as she trotted over to the bed.

Spence leaned over the edge of the bed and picked the little girl up when she reached the edge of the bed. "Good morning princess. Did you dream of sugar plum fairies last night?" he asked.

"No" Chloe said shaking her head as Daddy sat her down on the bed between him and Mommy.

JJ laughed as she wrapped an arm around Chloe and leaned down to kiss her on the head. "Do you know what a sugar plum fairy is?" she asked.

"No" Chloe said shaking her head as she leaned against Mommy's side.

"Then how do you know you didn't dream about them?" Spence asked as he tickled Chloe's side.

"I no know" Chloe said as she squealed in laughter and scooted closer to Mommy in an attempt to escape Daddy's 'tickle monster' hands. Then Chloe gasped at the feeling of being poked in the side and looked up at Mommy with a confused expression on her face.

JJ winced slightly when the baby kicked and then noticed the expression on Chloe's face. "Did you feel the baby kick sweetie?"

"Why he kick me? That not nice." Chloe said confused. She knew it wasn't nice to kick; she'd gotten in a bit of trouble herself a few weeks ago when she'd kicked Henry because he'd slapped her when they'd been fighting over something. Mommy had made them both say they were sorry and hug.

JJ chuckled. "The baby didn't mean to kick you sweetie. He can't see us, but he can hear our voices and so kicking right now is his way of saying hi."

Chloe smiled at that and patted Mommy's tummy. "Hi baby!"

Spence smiled at JJ over the top of Chloe's head and then stood up from the bed when he heard Henry stirring down the hall. A few minutes later he reappeared with the small boy on his back, giving him a piggy back.

"Hi Mama! Hi Cwoe!" He said in a bright chipper baby boy voice.

"Hi Henry!" Chloe answered as he slid off Daddy's back and down onto the bed.

"Good morning Henry." JJ said. "Did you sleep well?" she asked as Henry crawled across the covers and over to her.

"Uh huh" he said as he snuggled up on Mommy's other side while she leaned down and kissed him on the head.

"Do you guys remember what today is?" JJ asked as she held Chloe and Henry close.

Henry and Chloe both had thoughtful expressions on their face as they tried to remember what today was. It was all JJ could do not to laugh as it was the very same expression that Spence always had on his face when he stood in front of an evidence board or a map while he attempted to figure out what was missing.

After a moment, JJ tried to remind them. "Did we leave cookies and milk out for someone last night before we went to bed?"

Chloe's eyes got big. "Santa!"

"Should we go see if he came while we were sleeping?" Spence asked as he smiled watching his wife and children cuddle together.

"Wudowph?" Henry asked.

"Yep" Spence replied. "Rudolph too. Who else would guide Santa's sleigh?" Spence asked as he stood up beside the bed and scooped first Henry and then Chloe up and set them down on the floor. Then he helped JJ up and then the family headed downstairs to find out if Santa and Rudolph had visited them.

 

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Elle sat laughing as Will held Billy in his lap attempting to encourage their son to rip open the wrapping paper on his gifts. Billy however was far more interested in the white ball dangling in front of him that was attached to the Santa hat that his Daddy was wearing.

"Cher" Will said as he held Billy out towards Elle. "Why don't you see if you have better luck?"

Elle leaned forward and kissed Will as she took Billy from him. "Don't you want to see what Abuela got you?" Elle asked as she gave a sidelong glance to her mother, who was visiting for Christmas, and the baby boy now seated in her lap. Then she shook the present.

Will turned on the video camera to capture the moment.

The sound of the rattling paper combined with the sound of whatever was inside the package rattling grabbed Billy's attention. He kicked his legs and wiggled anxiously, becoming more excited as his Mommy shook the package again. This time when the package was placed in his lap, with a little help from Mommy, he managed to tear of the wrapping paper.

Will laughed as once the present was unwrapped and revealed to be a brightly colored shape sorting toy, it was the wrapping paper and the empty box that Billy wanted to play with.

Billy sat crunching the wrapping paper between his fingers and banging his hands on the side of the empty box with a large grin on his cherubic little baby face.

 

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Fran Morgan smiled as she sat sipping her coffee watching Sarah and Desiree playing with Jake on the floor with his new toys that he'd gotten for Christmas. He laughed and giggled as they played. She wasn't sure but she suspected that Derek wasn't so much 'helping' Penelope in the kitchen as he was stealing a moment alone with her, after all, she'd seen him reach up and snag the mistletoe from the arch of the living room doorway as he walked past.

"Mm" Penelope moaned as her husband's lips pulled away from hers. "that was divine, my hunk of burning love."

Derek laughed. "Just wait until later baby girl." He replied wiggling his eyebrows.

"Do we have to wait until later?" Penelope whined as she felt her chocolate god of a husband's hands running up and down her body as she leaned against him, recuperating from their make out session in the kitchen.

Derek chuckled. "Sorry Mama, but as entertained as Jake is playing with Sarah and Desiree, he is going to be hungry soon and I know my Mom is going to insist on helping us."

"Okay" Penelope sighed. "But, I am holding you to your promise about later, tall, dark, and sexy." She responded, her hands running over his chest.

 

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Aaron grinned as he answered the door with Avery in his arms. "Merry Christmas!" he said as he opened the door revealing Haley and Jack.

"Hi Daddy!" Jack greeted cheerfully. "Mommy said Santa stopped here so that I could be with you and Emily and Mommy and Avery and Seth all together!" Jack said without pausing to take a break.

"He did huh?" Aaron said with a smile and a wink over Jack's head at Haley. "Well, we'll have to go take a look, because Avery and Seth wanted to wait for you."

"Hi Avery!" Jack said waving to his sister in Daddy's arms.

"Yack!" Avery exclaimed reaching out from Daddy's arms towards her big brother.

Aaron set Avery down on her feet and watched as she toddled over to Jack and gave him a hug, which Jack of course returned. Then Jack held Avery's hand and turned to look up towards Daddy with pleading eyes.

"Why don't we head into the living room and see what Santa left for us?" Aaron said as he looked down at Jack and Avery. Then he and Haley watched for a moment as Jack and Avery headed for the living room before following behind them.

With Aaron and Haley alternating every other year who had Jack on Christmas Eve and who had Jack on Christmas Day, it had been determined that it was best to have Santa visit where ever Jack would be spending Christmas Day. That way when he was dropped off, both parents got to see his reaction to Santa's gifts.

"Hi Emily!" Jack said greeting his step-mom cheerfully as he and Avery entered the living room.

"Hi Jack" Emily replied with a smile as she pulled the bottle away from Seth and rubbed his back while she sat on his lap, causing him to burb.

"Hi Seth" Jack said as he sat down next to Emily on the couch facing his baby brother.

Emily smiled. Jack and Seth had hit it off from their very first meeting. Having a much older sibling was extremely entertaining to Seth. He'd enjoyed watching Jack playing at the park. In turn of course, Jack had enjoyed pushing Seth in the baby swings, just as he enjoyed playing with Avery. "Seth, baby, do you want to sit with Jack?" Emily asked as she glanced at Jack who held out his hands.

Seth glanced up at Mommy and then leaned forward and reached out to Jack. Emily shifted Seth into Jack's lap and smiled as Seth patted Jack on the shoulder and then baby babbled at him.

 

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Dave smiled as he took in the sight of his family opening presents. Everybody was taking turns, unwrapping one gift at a time so that everyone could see what everyone else got and so that the gifts could be appreciated. And while he was able to appreciate that Ashley, Courtney, and Tim were at an age where they could truly appreciate the gifts they received, there was a part of him that was sad that he had missed out on their younger years, were Christmas was truly a magical time, when being a parent meant a 6 am Christmas wake-up call due to kids wanting to see what Santa had brought.

As he sat watching he wondered how his teammates and their families were spending their Christmas mornings. Then he began to wonder what he could do to witness a little bit of young childhood age Christmas magic… then Erin was elbowing him because it was his turn to open a gift.

 

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JJ smiled as she sat with Elle, Emily, and Penelope watching the kids playing together. They'd gotten together so that the kids could have a play date, which also worked out as a play date of sorts for the adults as well as the guys and girls got to hang out together as well.

Chloe and Jack were, as always when they got together for play dates, attached at the hip and playing with a variety of toys. Henry and Jake were playing with trucks. Billy and Seth were occupied with a baby activity center that had more than captured the 9 month and 7 month olds' attention.

Avery pushed herself up off the floor from where she sat watching with her doll and toddled over to where Mommy sat on the couch.

"Mama" Avery said holding her arms up to be picked up.

"What's wrong sweetie? Don't you want to play with Henry and Jake?" Emily asked as she settled Avery in her lap and the little girl cuddled up against her.

"You know, I never noticed before this just how out-numbered Avery and Chloe are as the only two girls out of seven kids." Elle replied.

"And you really aren't helping their numbers peaches." Penelope said teasingly as she turned to JJ.

"Hey, mine is not the sole uterus sitting here. Any one of you could step up and make an attempt at help even out the boy-girl ratio." JJ replied with a laugh.

"Not it." Elle and Emily said in unison.

"You know PG" Emily said "if you and Morgan got to work now, Jake would be about two and a half or maybe three when the baby got here. Think of what a good big brother he'd make."

"And you know a little girl would have Morgan wrapped around her finger." Elle replied joining in on the teasing.

"Actually, I think Spence and Morgan would make a pact to help each other dig the tranches." JJ replied thoughtfully.

"Trenches?" Elle asked.

"For the moats." Emily replied.

Penelope smiled and tipped her head in thought as she imagined a baby girl with a combination of her and her dark chocolate knight's best traits. Oh, they'd be having a discussion about this later. Maybe it was time there to be a baby Morgan number 2.

While the girls continued talking, JJ noticed the expression on Spence's face with some concern.

Spence winced slightly at the noise and the bright December sunlight shining through the window's at Hotch and Emily's condo while he sat half listening to Morgan, Will, and Hotch discussing football and the likelihood of which teams would end up in the Super Bowl and concentrating on willing his headache to go away.

"You don't have any statistics to add pretty boy? Usually you are all about the statistics, probabilities, and point spreads." Morgan said knowing how good Reid had gotten at being able to discuss football over the course of the last few years with JJ's influence and love of the sport.

"Hm what?" Reid replied distractedly as he turned to look at Morgan.

 

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"Happy New Years!" Dave said as he greeted the team at the doorway of the cabin, which to most people would be considered a mansion – it just happened to be in a heavily wooded area on Little Creek Reservoir.

Erin smiled watching Dave's teammates and their families come in. She'd been looking forward to this evening. It was always such a joy to be around toddlers and babies, but give the age of her own children, she was in no rush to be a grandmother.

"So are your kids off at a party tonight?" Elle asked as she glanced about seeing no signs of a teenage presence.

"No" Erin replied smiling as she continued hanging up small coats. "David and I agreed to let them have a small party here with some of their closest friends. We felt that on a night like tonight it would be safer. We made them promise no alcohol, and I suppose one or two of their friends might have attempted to smuggle some in anyway, but at least none of them will be driving. And they are being supervised. Right now I believe they're playing…rock band?"

"Ah" Elle replied with a nod.

"Uncle Dave?" Jack asked looking up at Dave.

"Yes Jack?" Dave asked.

"Do you have any toys?" Jack asked.

"Jack, you packed your own toys, remember?" Hotch scolded, mortified at Jack's manners, which were usually impeccable.

"It's fine Aaron." Dave replied waving his protests off. "Actually Tim helped me set up something extra special for you guys. Do you want to see it?"

Jack eyes got big at the thought of a surprise and he nodded his head. "Uh huh"

"Alright. Who else wants to see a surprise? Chloe you don't like surprises do you? How about you Henry? Jake do you like surprises?" Dave said as one by one he asked the older toddlers about if they wanted to see the surprise.

Each of the children nodded and became excited at the prospect of a surprise.

"Well okay, let's go see it then!" Dave said leading the kids and their confused parents to the room that had been used for his and Erin's wedding two years ago. He paused with his hands on the door knob and looked down at the kids with a twinkle in his eye. "Is everybody ready?"

A chorus of nods, yeses, and uh huhs were the answer he received.

Dave smiled and opened the door to the room and revealed the train sets that he and Tim had spent the better part of the last two day setting up. The train tracks looped around the room on a platform that was about two feet off the floor. There was a town with shops, and houses, a mountain, trees, snow, people, and of course multiple trains and sets of tracks that took up one side of the room. Dave reached down and turned on a switch and the lights in the town came on and the trains all started to move.

"Wow!" Jack exclaimed as he watched the trains in awe.

"Choo choo mama!" Jake exclaimed pointing at the train.

"I see baby!" Penelope replied as she marveled at the set up before her.

"You know Dave; I never knew you were a model train buff." Hotch said as he stood next to Dave watching the joy on all the little ones faces as they watched the trains.

"I wouldn't exactly say 'buff', but when Tim was 12 and Erin and I had first gotten back together this and model airplanes were a great way for us to bond." Dave replied with a smile as he picked up the controls for the trains and pressed a button to blow one of the train whistles and a puff of smoke came out of the smoke stack of said train.

"Aden, aden, do it aden Unca Dave!" Henry cheered.

Erin chuckled as she watched Dave enjoy playing with the little ones. She knew how much he wished that he hadn't missed out on Ashley, Courtney, and Tim's young years. Looking back, if she had known then what she knew now, she would have done things differently, but that wasn't an option. She was just glad that he and Tim had formed a father-son bond now, as well as Ashley and Courtney having accepted him as a second father figure. She supposed it helped that he had opportunities like this to play with little ones. Who knew in ten or fifteen years there might be grandchildren… although that thought did cause her to almost stop in her tracks and make her feel old since it had only been ten to fifteen years ago that her children had been Jack's age. How time flew. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "You know dears, if you trust David to watch the children, we set up an area for the adults over there." She said nodding her head to the other side of the room where there was a bar, a table holding a variety of snacks and treats. "Can I get anyone anything to drink" Erin asked as she played the role of hostess.

The men stayed with Dave and the kids, almost as mesmerized with the trains as the kids were.

Emily took in the sight of Erin playing hostess as she and the girls walked across the room to relax for a few moments. It was hard to believe that this was the same dragon lady who had wanted her to gather dirt on Aaron and bring an end to his career. She'd never be best friends with the women due to their history, but she could certainly more than tolerate her for a few hours every once in a while. Emily could see how happy the woman made Dave… and also how hard she was trying to make amends and atone for what she'd put the team through in the past.

JJ, Emily, Elle, Penelope, and Erin sat chatting and laughing as they discussed a variety of different things and just enjoyed having some time together. Occasionally one of the kids would wander over from the other side of the room looking for a snack, or a drink, or a cuddle from Mommy.

An outsider looking in on the other side of the room would really wonder who the children were and who the adults were. In addition to loaning his model trains to entertain the kids, Tim had also loaned some remote control cars and other fun gizmos and gadgets that the adult boys were having all too much fun entertaining their children with.

"See this is forward and backwards… and this is right and left." Hotch explained as he showed Jack how to operate one of the remote control cars, but lingered in giving the remote control to Jack as he was having fun operating the car.

"Daddy, now can I try?" Jack asked as he looked up at Daddy.

"Oh… yeah. Here you go buddy." Hotch replied handing the remote to Jack, who sat down next to Chloe who was mesmerized watching all of the action going on in the room. There were the trains and the remote control cars, not to mention all of the toys that had been unpacked for the younger ones to play with. It was like a toys store gone wild.

JJ laughed and smiled as she sat talking with Emily, Elle, Penelope, and Erin. Then she noticed it, just like she had a few days ago at Emily and Hotch's. Spence winced as if he was in a great deal of pain. "I think I need to stretch my legs a little bit. I'm just going to go see what the guys are up to." She said with a nod of her head to the other side of the room.

"Hey you" JJ said softly as she walked up next to Spence and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Spence mumbled "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Baby, I saw you wince. Please tell me what's wrong." JJ whispered in his ear.

Spence closed his eyes and sighed in defeat. "I have a headache." he whispered back.

JJ nodded and ran her hand lightly up and down his back. "Did you have a headache at Emily and Hotch's the other day too?"

Spence nodded, not wanting to talk as the sound of his own voice inside his head just increased the throbbing.

"Do you want to take something for it?" she asked hoping that he would agree to some over the counter pain killers as she could tell he was in a great deal of pain and trying to brush it off so that he wouldn't ruin anyone else fun on New Year's.

Spence closed his eyes, attempting to will away the pain. His wish that the pain would just go away however; was not granted. He sighed and shook his head.

JJ threaded her fingers through Spence's and squeezed his hand. "Do you want to go home? If you don't feel well we can."

Spence shook his head again. "I'll be okay. I don't want to ruin Chloe and Henry's fun. They're having a good time playing." he said as he attempted to force a smile onto his face.


	4. Chapter 4

JJ sighed and rubbed her belly where the baby was kicking as she read through files and made notes for her meeting with the Secretary of State and the Director of the CIA. She rubbed her temple as she continued to worry about Spence and the team and what would happen to them now that she didn't have any knowledge of things to come… but then she supposed that was how life usually was – and she was just going to have to get used to it again. They all would.

"Hey, I thought you could use a little break. How about some tea and homemade chocolate chip cookies?" Jamie asked as she walked in to JJ's office holding two mugs of tea, a zip lock baggie of cookies, and a stack of folders.

JJ looked up from the file she was working on took one look at the stack in Jamie's hands and groaned. "I suppose that comes with a side of more files?"

Jamie nodded. "Sadly, yes. But this is the last of them and I finished putting together that report so I can help you with these and then they'll be done." She said as she set the stack of files down on JJ's desk. Just then JJ's cell phone went off with receiving a text message.

JJ smiled as she read the text message from Spence. 'Is it wrong that I wish we were still on Christmas break?'

JJ quickly typed a reply. 'No baby – I miss u too.' Then, she smiled and set her phone back down to pick up her tea and continue her conversation with Jamie while they took a break from preparing for their meeting.

Spence sat slouched down in his desk chair as he sipped from his coffee. Then he smiled as his phone dinged with an incoming text message. He smiled wider as he read JJ's text message. Then he turned and watched as Gideon walked down the catwalk from his office to Hotch's and knocked on the door.

"Come in" Hotch's voice rang out through the door and he glanced up to see his friend and mentor Jason Gideon stick his head in the office door.

"Hey Hotch. The cadets are learning their assignments right now, so we should get the team together to tell them." Gideon said as he leaned partway in the door.

Hotch nodded and stood up from behind his desk. He walked across his office to join Gideon in the doorway and then they walked down the catwalk together. "I need my team in the round table room." Hotch called out just as he stopped to knock on Rossi's office door.

Reid, Elle, Emily, Morgan, and Penelope sat around the round table catching up with each other from their holidays when Gideon, Hotch, and Rossi entered the room.

"I just wanted to take a few minutes and let you all know who the cadets are that will be with the team for the next several months. You're all familiar with the cadets that are assigned to the team. Ashley Seaver was with you during a couple of cases before the holidays and I'm sure you all remember Zoe Hawkes from the case in Cincinnati a couple of years ago?" Gideon explained.

The team nodded wondering how having two probationary agents in their ranks for the next several months would affect the team.

 

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Spence jiggled his leg anxiously. He had his head down and his dark sunglass on indoors while he waited to be seen by the doctor.

JJ sat next to him holding his hand with one hand while her other hand rubbed the back of her husband's neck attempting to get him to relax. Although as far as she was concerned, he had every right to be agitated after having a headache for the last two days. She rubbed his back and whispered soothing words in his ear.

"We're almost ready for you Dr. Reid." The nurse said as she walked up to the bench they sat on in the hallway.

 

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JJ sat waiting for Spence in the hallway. She was worried, but she also had to believe that everything was going to be okay. Of course that didn't mean that she didn't wish that she already knew what was causing Spence's headaches. Then they could just get it fixed so that he wouldn't be in pain any longer.

She had hated watching him in pain the last couple days while he dealt with the mysterious headaches. Of course it also didn't help that Spence had told her all about how his Mom's episodes when he was young had often started with headaches so severe that she had closed all the blinds in her bedroom and curled up in bed for days at a time.

Spence finished buttoning his cardigan as he walked up to where JJ sat waiting for him in the hallway. "Okay, your turn." Spence said in an attempt to make light of the situation.

"Hm" JJ murmured as she looked up at Spence as she came out of her thoughts. "Oh… all done?"

Spence nodded. "For now. They'll call me after they've had a chance to look at the results. But how about we go to a much happy doctor's appointment now?" he asked holding out his hand to help his pregnant wife up from the bench.

Dr. Green entered the exam room while looking through JJ's file and then smiled as she glanced up to see JJ seated on the exam table having a whispered conversation with her husband Spencer. "Well if it isn't my favorite patient and her husband." Dr. Green said with a smile as she closed the file and set it on the nearby counter top. "So how've you been feeling?"

JJ chuckled. "Very, very pregnant."

"Well you're in the home stretch now with eight weeks or so to go." Dr. Green smiled as she pulled out a measuring tape to measure JJ's belly and wrapped it around JJ's wait. "32 centimeters. Right on target." Dr. Green said reaching over and making a note in JJ's file.

"Okay, JJ lie back and we'll listen to the little guys heart beat." Dr. Green said waiting as JJ lay back on the exam table and reached over to grab Spence hand.

Spence attempted to hide his wincing, but the pain suddenly became unbearably intense as he leaned forward and rubbed his forehead, attempting to will the headache away.

Dr. Green turned to grab JJ's file to make a note and noticed Spencer's apparent agony. "Spencer, are you alright?" She asked in a concerned tone.

JJ winced sympathetically at the expression etched on her husband's face. "He's been having headaches." JJ said as she turned to look at Dr. Green.

"Have you had them checked out?" the doctor asked.

Spence nodded. "I had an MRI this morning. They're going to get back to me later this week with the results."

Dr. Green nodded. "The brain can be an especially tricky part of the body to diagnose. I'm sure you're already aware of this, yes?"

Again Spence nodded.

"Good. Make sure you get a few different opinions, no matter the diagnosis. It never hurts to have too much information to be able to make an informed decision. Well informed is well healed."

Spence chuckled at the doctor's pun and then groaned as the sound reverberated in his head.

"In fact, here." Dr. Green reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card, flipped it over, and began to write on the back. "This is my husband. He's a neurologist. You can call him to discuss you the results or schedule an appointment with him for an examination. He'll know to take care of you. After all JJ is my favorite patient," Dr. Green winked in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I know he wouldn't want to make me unhappy."

JJ and Spence walked hand in hand out of the hospital just as a text message came across on his phone from Morgan. Spence turned to look at JJ after reading the message. "We're headed to Miami. Can you drop me off at the hangar? Everybody else is headed there. They're going to get me up to speed on the jet."

JJ nodded, but watched with concern out of the corner of her eye as Spence attempted to fight off his headache. A short while later she pulled up in the hangar next to the jet. She stepped out of the SUV and walked to the tailgate where Spence was grabbing his go bag.

Spence paused after closing the tailgate of the SUV and turned to face JJ. "I'll get a ride home from Morgan or something when we get home… I'll miss you guys." He said as he stepped closer and rubbed the side of her belly. "I'll call as soon as I get a chance – but just in case, give Chloe and Henry a hug and kiss from me?"

JJ nodded and leaned forward to kiss Spence goodbye. After pulling away she reached up her thumb and wiped off his lower lip. "We love you… and I'm not really sure that you've learned the meaning of this, but I'm going to tell you anyway… be safe." She said with a smirk and a shake of her head and then leaned in to kiss him one more time.

Spence pulled out of the kiss and headed for the boarding stairway of the jet. He paused and turned to look at JJ one last time at the top of the stairs and waved. Then he ducked his head and stepped through the boarding door and into the plane.

"Hey pretty boy, how's junior?" Morgan asked as Reid took a seat in the darkened corner of the couch on the jet and started looking through the file on the case.

Reid shook his head, his eyes not leaving the case file. "Still not telling you what we're naming him Morgan… but I can guarantee you it isn't junior."

Zoe turned to look at Elle in confusion.

"Reid's wife JJ is pregnant." Elle explained. "Actually you met JJ, she was our media liaison."

"Ah" Zoe said in understanding. "Their first?"

Emily, Elle, and Morgan all snorted in amusement. "No, their third." Elle replied with much amusement.

"Not to mention their oldest just turned three." Emily added with a smile, finding humor in watching Zoe's eyes grow wide.

Ashley, having met JJ and the children after her first case 'consulting' with the team back before the holidays was unsurprised.

Hotch shook his head smirked wondering what their cadets were thinking about working with such a close knit team. Then he turned to look at Reid. "What are you thinking Reid?"

"You know cowry shells and ritual offerings are common to a number of Afro-Caribbean religions." Reid mused as he looked through the crime scene photos of the victims with shells on their eyes and mouths. Then he continued to run down all of the things the rest of the team had noticed while they had briefed in the round table room up to and including the upside down cross.

 

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Reid sat on the bed in Elian's room as his headache intensified. He peeled of his bullet proof vest, unable to bear the restrictive feeling against his chest. He rubbed his eyes and rocked in agony. As he pressed his palms to his eyes, the visions of everything he'd seen during the course of his case passed in front of his eyes in a disturbing and mysterious sequence of flashes. He was still bothered by the gate of the abandoned house slamming open and closed repeatedly as he and Morgan had walked past. Then he stood up and noticed the framed photo of that same house on the dresser. He looked out the window and saw the house across the street. And he knew… he didn't know how he knew… he just knew. It was as if all of the pieces of the puzzle just fell into place for him.

He went down the stairs and out the back door of the house to head across the street the street to the abandoned foster home. As he stepped off the porch he ran right into Elle and Zoe who were busy looking for any signs of a struggle that might have transpired.

"Whoa, mijo" Elle exclaimed pressing her palm to Reid's chest and stopping him in his tracks. "Where are you going?"

"I found a photo of Julio in front of that house. All of the victims were killed in their homes. We have to get over there and stop Walker before he finishes this." Reid said as he pointed across the street and winced at the light from the street light as it hit his eyes.

"Okay, but JJ will kill us all if we let you go into a potential hostage situation alone without your vest on. What were you thinking genius?" Elle said as she started to pull of her vest.

Reid stopped her with a shake of his head. "No… Walker needs to feel like he has the upper hand. A bullet proof vest doesn't allow him to think that. We need a ruse… I've got an idea… but you aren't going to like it."

"Well in that case, you should only explain it once. There will be less yelling that way." Elle said as she pulled out her phone and dialed Hotch's number.

Moments later the whole team including Seaver and Zoe stood out on the lawn of the house listening to Reid explain his plan.

"Nu uh. No way." Morgan said crossing his arms as Reid finished explaining how he would go in as a decoy to distract Walker so that everyone else could surround him. "JJ will kill us if we use you as bait and you end up getting taken hostage."

"Well then what do you recommend we do Morgan? Elian is over there and Walker is going to kill him if we don't get to him soon."

"It's not Morgan's decision. It's mine." Hotch interjected. "And we're going to do this by the book. Reid, put this on." Hotch said as he tossed Reid the bullet proof vest he'd discarded earlier in Elian's room. "Reid you go in first through the front doors. Morgan and Elle you back him up. Rossi, Emily and I will go through the back doors with the detective."

"What about us?" Seaver asked.

"You and Zoe are going to stay here because you are still cadets in training." Hotch replied.

Zoe and Ashley both nodded in silent understanding.

Reid crept as quietly as possible up the creaky stairs of the house, followed by Morgan and Elle who took flanking positions behind Reid. Reid didn't have his gun drawn, but Morgan and Elle did.

As Reid peeked through the exposed boards of the wall, and saw Elian tied to a chair and what appeared to be Julio lying tied up on the floor, Walker appeared from the shadows and pulled a gun on Reid.

"You really shouldn't be here." Walker said as he pulled the hammer back on the gun.

"You're a professor and you're very smart, a lot smarter than this." Reid said as attempted to stall for time and saw Rossi, Hotch, and Emily out of the corner of his eye as they entered through the back door into the room that held Elian and Julio. "Men like you and I don't need guns." Reid said as he watched Hotch move across the room towards the doorway Walker was standing in front of.

"Men like you and I?" Walker questioned as his mind worked over what to do with the FBI Agent that had landed in his lap… well he supposed it was just another poor victim for Elian in his mislead reign of Paulo terror.

"Men of intelligence" Reid nodded, signaling Morgan and Elle who stood in the shadows of the hallway behind him to move up.

Hotch recognized Reid's talking for what it was, him stalling Walker until everyone was in place. So once he reached the door, he opened it. Hard.

The door opened throwing Walker off balance and Morgan was on him in a flash, disarming him while Elle covered him.

"Good work" Hotch said clapping Reid on the shoulder.

Reid nodded and moved past where Morgan was dragging Walker up off the floor, past Hotch, and into the next room.

Julio looked at Reid as he entered the room. "You heard me calling to you. That's why you came."

"Julio, I found a photograph of you in front of this building. That's how I found you." Reid replied.

"You don't really believe that do you?" Julio asked. "That you just happened to see a photograph?"

Reid stood looking at Julio, unsure what exactly to think. It was hard to deny the supernatural aspects of this case after everything that he and JJ had experienced in the last six years… but at the same time, he was still a man of science… he needed proof… more than coincidences.

"This is a la wosie dai. It will protect you." Julio said as he pulled a yellow beaded bracelet off his wrist. "I don't need it anymore, but you do." He said as he squeezed it into Reid's hand.

 

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Reid closed the door softly when he entered the house. Partly because he didn't want to wake Chloe and Henry up if they were sleeping and partly to avoid loud noises that would only add to the pain of his current headache.

JJ looked up from where she sat on the couch watching Henry and Chloe playing on the floor. "Hey" She spoke softly as Spence entered the living room and sat down beside her still wearing his sunglasses.

"Hi" Spence replied as he sank back into the couch next to JJ, resting his head on the back of the couch and closing his eyes.

JJ turned to face Spence and began soothingly running her fingers through his hair. "Did you hear from the doctor?"

Spence nodded.

"Well?" JJ prodded.

"They couldn't find any physical explanation for the headaches. The doctor suggested it was stress or possibly psychosomatic reasons." Spence as he turned his head into JJ's touch.

JJ took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Okay. Well let's just remember what Dr. Green said… maybe they missed something. We'll get another opinion or two and we'll schedule an appointment with Dr. Green… it might take us some time, but we'll figure this out baby."

Spence nodded; weary with the exhaustion of attempting to fight off his headaches.

At that moment Henry and Chloe realized that Daddy was home. A loud chorus of Daddy, Daddy, Daddy and Dada, Dada, Dada filled the living room, as they stood up and made their way over to where Mommy and Daddy sat on the couch, causing Spence to wince.

"Guys, Daddy doesn't feel good right now so we need to be really quiet okay?" JJ said as she helped Chloe and Henry climb up onto the couch.

"Dada has owie?" Henry asked.

"Mm hm" JJ said nodding as Henry settled in between her and Spence.

Chloe tipped her head in thought for a moment as she looked at Daddy. Then she turned to look at Mommy. "Mommy, kiss it and make it better."

"That is a very smart idea." Spence said as he pulled Chloe onto his lap. "I think Mommy should kiss it and make it all better." He said smiling slightly as he turned to look at his wife.

JJ smiled, glad to see Spence was trying to stay light hearted and positive even though she knew he was scared. Then she leaned in and kissed Spence; first on the forehead; then on the temple; then squarely on the lips.


	5. Chapter 5

"Here you go." JJ said handing half of the grocery list to Rebecca as they stood in the entrance of the grocery store. Chloe sat in the cart Rebecca was pushing. Henry sat in the cart JJ was pushing. Rebecca had graciously offered to help JJ with the grocery shopping.

"Okay, Chloe… we are in charge of cereal, milk, bread, and a whole bunch of other things. Do you want to hold the list for me?" Rebecca asked as she smiled at her young blonde haired brown eyed charge.

Chloe nodded eagerly and reached out for the list. "Uh huh. I wanna help."

"Okay. You hold this and then we'll head over to the part of the store where the stuff on our list is okay?"

"Okay" Chloe chirped as Rebecca started to push the cart.

"Bye Mommy" Chloe waved.

JJ laughed as she waved back. "Bye baby girl. See you in a little bit."

"Mama where Cwoe an Becbec go?" Henry asked.

"They're just going to a different part of the store to get the rest of what we need and then they're going to meet us at the register so we can be home in time to meet Daddy." JJ explained as she started to push the cart and Henry towards the produce section.

"Dada be home?" Henry asked.

"Yep Daddy will be home not too long after we get home, but first we have to buy food. How about some bananas?" JJ asked as she paused the cart next to the bananas.

Henry's eyes lit up. "I wike nanas." He said cheerfully.

"I know you do baby." She said kissing him on the top of the head. "Mommy put them on the list special just for you. And we need to get some grapes and some apples."

They continued to work their way through the store, eventually making it to the cracker aisle. JJ grabbed a packed of goldfish crackers off of the shelves.

"Fishies!" Henry said excitedly pointing at the package of crackers. Then he tipped his head in thought for a moment. "Mama we go visit Memo?"

JJ smiled. "Sure baby. You and Chloe can watch Nemo when we get home while Rebecca and I put the groceries away."

Henry shook his head. "No at home. We go to da akarium wid da tuwtwes?"

"You want to go the aquarium with the turtles?" JJ asked.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded.

"You had fun when you and Chloe went with Daddy huh?"

Henry nodded again.

"Okay, we'll ask Daddy and see what he says when we get home okay?" JJ was worried about Spence's on again off again headaches and how they would be affected by an enclosed space full of excited rambunctious children on a Saturday.

 

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"Hello? Is anybody home?" Ashley yelled as she and her duffle bag came through the front door of the house.

"Ashley, sweetheart, what are you doing home? You just went back to school last weekend." Erin asked as she rounded the corner to the entry way.

"Mom… I… Kyle broke up with me." Ashley said as she looked at her Mom with a heartbroken look on her face.

"Oh sweetheart…." Erin said stepping forward and wrapping her arms around her oldest daughter. As she hugged Ashley and kissed her temple, she wished that it was as easy to fix the broken heart of your college sophomore daughter as it had been to fix a scraped knee when she was first learning to ride a bike at five. She did know of one thing that distracted five year olds from scraped knees and grown women from broken hearts, even if only momentarily. "How about some ice cream?" Erin asked softly as she rubbed her daughter's back.

"Rocky road?" Ashley asked as she pulled back slightly from her mother's embrace and wiped her face.

"Of course." Erin replied with a smile, "Why don't you go put your bag in your room and I'll meet you in the kitchen."

"Where's everybody else?" Ashley asked as she paused at the bottom of the stairs.

"David took your brother shopping for new soccer cleats since practice starts in a few weeks and he's outgrown his old ones and your sister…" Erin trailed off with a smile as she saw Courtney appear at the top of the stairs.

"Ashley! What are you doing here?" Courtney asked excitedly as she bounded down the stairs to greet her sister. At only two years apart, the sisters had always been very close. The first few months that Ashley had been away at college last year had been difficult for both Ashley and Courtney.

Erin smiled and shook her head as she turned to head to the kitchen. Her babies were growing up. Ashley was a college sophomore, Courtney was a high school senior working on picking a college from the numerous acceptance letters she'd received, and Tim, her precious baby boy was going to be a freshman in high school in the fall. 'Where has the time gone?' She mused as she pulled the ice cream from the freezer and three bowls down from the cabinet.

"Hey Mom?" Courtney asked as she and Ashley entered the kitchen a few minutes later pulling their mother from her memories of the years gone by.

"Yes?" Erin asked as she set dishes of Rocky Road ice cream in front of the girls as they sat down at the breakfast bar.

"Can we have family pizza, board game, movie night when Dave and Tim get home?" Courtney asked as pulled a spoonful of ice cream out of the bowl.

Erin smiled and glanced back and forth between her girls. "I think that's a lovely idea. What kind of pizza do you want? I'll call in the order and have David pick it up on their way home."

 

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"Okay sport, do we have everything you need?" Dave asked his 14 year old son as they stood in the midst of the soccer gear at the sporting goods store. Dave was holding a pair of new soccer cleats, a new set of shin guards, several pairs of new soccer socks, and a few pairs of Umbros soccer shorts.

Needless to say the boy was growing like a weed. Last year they'd still been able to shop in the boy's section. This year they were in the men's department. Then Dave's phone rang and he fumbled for a moment to pull his phone out of his pocket while handing all of the gear to Tim who was holding up a warm up suit. Dave nodded, and Tim added it to the pile in his arms.

"Ciao il mia amante bella" Dave greeted his wife after looking at the caller ID. He grinned as he heard Erin's response on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, we're almost done. Okay. Okay. See you soon."

"What did Mom want?" Tim asked as he shifted all of the soon to be his new soccer gear in his arms.

"Ashley came home for the weekend so it's board games and movies tonight. Our mission is to pick up the pizzas your Mom ordered."

"Sweet" Tim said with a nod of his head. "Do you think she ordered cheese bread too?"

Dave shook his head and reached out and messed up his son's hair. "I think your Mom knows exactly how much of a hollow leg you have and ordered enough food to feed an army… or at the very least three hungry teenagers. Come on let's go pay for your gear and get out of here."

 

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"Hi" Spence said as he entered the kitchen, having just gotten home from work and having gone through the living room already to say hi to Chloe and Henry. "Looks like you guys had a busy afternoon." He said as he surveyed the bags of groceries on the counter.

"Hi" JJ replied as she turned to greet Spence and he leaned down to kiss her and softly rubbed the side of her belly. "Mm" she moaned softly as he pulled away. "How did your appointment go?"

Spence shook his head. "They couldn't find anything either."

"Okay, so on Monday I'll call Dr. Green's office and get you an appointment. It's going to be okay baby… we'll figure it out." JJ said softly. "So, Henry asked if we could go to the aquarium. Do you feel up to it tomorrow?"

Spence smiled remembering how taken Chloe and Henry had both been with the aquarium when they went just before Christmas. "Sure, plus it will be nice to get out for a bit. I bet Rebecca would enjoy a day to herself."

At that moment, Rebecca entered the kitchen followed by Henry and Chloe to get a drink of water. "Why would I enjoy a day to myself?" She asked as she reached up into the cupboard and grabbed a couple of plastic cups for Chloe and Henry and pulled the jug of water out of the refrigerator and filled their cups halfway and then handed them to the kids.

Spence shrugged. "I just figured maybe you had some studying you wanted to do."

Rebecca smiled at her pseudo older brother. "Actually since classes just started again last week, I don't really have a whole lot of studying to do yet… what are you guys doing tomorrow?"

"Henry, what did we need to ask Daddy about when he got home?" JJ asked as she looked down at the toddler and took the cup that he was holding up since he was done with his drink.

Henry looked up at Daddy. "We go visit Memo, Cwush, and Skurt?"

Spence smiled. "You want to go to the aquarium and see the fish and the turtles again?"

"Uh huh" Henry said nodding eagerly.

"Chloe, what do you think princess? Do you want to go see all of the animals at the aquarium again?"

"Yep" Chloe answered popping the p. "The fish are pwetty."

"Alright, then we'll go to the aquarium tomorrow then." Spence said with a smile down at his progeny.

"You tome too Becbec?" Henry asked as he looked up at Rebecca.

"I…" Rebecca paused looking back and forth at JJ and Spencer. She didn't know how to respond. It wasn't that she didn't want to go, or that she couldn't go, but she didn't want to invite herself along on a family outing.

"Henry, Bec can come if she wants to, but she might like to go do something else tomorrow, and that's okay too because she spent the whole week with you." JJ said to Henry as she brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. Her baby boy was in need of his first haircut, but she wanted to put it off just a bit longer if she could. He looked so cute with the way his hair curled just so at the ends. It reminded her of when Spence had longer hair. She'd also really liked when he cut his hair too though, she thought fondly as she rubbed her belly where the baby was kicking as if to remind her that he might be the lifelong reminder of just how much she enjoyed it when Spence got a haircut.

Rebecca smiled. "Actually, if you don't mind, I think the aquarium sounds like a lot of fun."

"Okay then." JJ said with a smile.

"Daddy?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah princess?"

"Will you come play wif us?"

"I'd love to princess, but I need to help Mommy."

"It's okay baby. Go play with Chloe and Henry. I'll put the groceries away and start dinner."

"I'll help." Rebecca replied stepping towards the counter and pulling out groceries and starting to put them away.

Spence sat down on the floor with Chloe and Henry to play and smiled as he heard JJ and Rebecca's laughter from the kitchen. He wasn't sure what they were talking about and chances were he was better off not knowing. JJ and Rebecca were as thick as thieves when they spent time together.

 

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After pizza and several competitive rounds of board games, the Strauss/Rossi clan settled in the comfort of the living room to watch a movie. Erin sat cuddled into David's side with her head resting on his shoulder.

Ashley was laying with her head in her mother's lap while her Mom played with her hair like she used to when she was a little girl. Sometimes a girl, no matter how old she was, just needed her mom. Suffering from the breakup of her first long-term relationship definitely qualified as one of those times.

Courtney sat next to Dave, cuddled into her Step-Dad's side. She considered herself a lucky girl with not one, but two fathers who loved her, her sister, and her brother.

Tim was stretched out along the couch. His head was on the armrest. His legs stretched over Courtney's lap and his Dad's lap. Then, just because he could, and because he was 14 and decided it would be funny, he slid a little lower and poked Ashley in the forehead with his big toe.

Ashley grabbed Tim's foot the third time he poked her with his toes and held on tight while she tickled the bottom of her baby brother's very ticklish foot and then it became a free for all as the three teenagers wrestled with each other in the midst of a tickle war that their parents weren't fortunate enough to manage to escape.

 

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"Are you excited for today?" Haley asked Jack as they stood in front of Emily and Aaron's condo door.

"Yeah." Jack replied nodding as he looked up at Mommy.

Haley smiled. She knew Jack had been looking forward to going to the indoor play area all week long. Since it was the middle of winter he was going a bit stir crazy having to be inside all the time. Today would be a chance for the five year old to run and play like he was outdoors, but indoors.

"Hey" Emily said as she opened the door with Seth on her hip and let them in.

"Hi Seth" Jack said in a happy excited voice as he stood up on his tip toes to see his baby brother's face.

Seth waved his hand in Jack's direction and shot him a drooly grin as he squealed happily.

Emily knelt down so that Seth was at Jack's height and they could see each other more easily.

Jack held out his hand and Seth reached out gripping on to his big brother's finger and held onto it while he happily babbled.

"Hey, there you guys are." Aaron said as he entered the entry way with Avery.

"Daddy!" Jack squealed happy to see his Dad.

"Ack!" Avery squealed as she wiggled and squirmed in Daddy's arms to be put down so she could see Jack.

To make things easy, Aaron knelt down and set Avery down on her feet just as Jack rushed at them. It turned into a big group hug as Avery hugged her brother. Jack attempted to hug Avery and Daddy at the same time. Aaron wrapped his arms around his two oldest children and smiled. It was amazing how all of the problems of the world went away in the simple moments spent with his children. "How are you buddy? Did you and Mommy have a fun week?"

"Uh huh" Jack nodded.

"Yeah, did you have fun at school?"

Jack's head bobbed eagerly.

"Are you ready to go have lots of fun?" Aaron asked as he stood up and moved to grab everybody's coats.

Jack nodded again.

Haley laughed as she watched Jack practically vibrating with excitement at getting to run and play. Then she turned to look at Aaron. "Did you get a chance to look over the information I sent you about soccer?"

Aaron nodded as he handed Seth's snowsuit to Emily. "I did. I think soccer would be great for Jack."

"Great, I'll go ahead and take care of getting him signed up." Haley replied. "Here's Jack's bag for later." She said as she sat Jack's backpack off to the side. "Have fun today Jack." Haley said as she knelt down to say goodbye to her little boy.

"Bye Mommy" Jack said as he leaned and hugged his Mommy goodbye.

"Bye Jack. Be a good boy." Haley said and then kissed Jack on the forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow."

 

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"Whoa… cool" Jack said as the family entered the indoor play area and were greeted by the sight of an eight foot climbing wall, a jungle gym, a tree fort, a ball pit, several slides, teeter totters, and an open area where some of the kids were playing tag, and playing ball.

"You boys have fun. Avery, Seth and I will be over here." Emily said pointing to the area that was set up for the toddlers and babies.

 

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"Hey Will, do you…" Elle trailed off at the sight of Billy walking around the living room while holding onto Daddy's hands while Will walked behind him. "Look at you Billy!" Elle said proudly with a smile on her face as she pulled out her phone and turned on the camera taking a couple pictures of Will and Billy and then turning on the video camera to catch the scene on film to send to her mother.

After a few moments of filming the scene, Elle set her phone off to the side and entered the living room. Will stopped walking a little bit away from Elle. "Hey buddy, go see Mama. Go on… you can do it."

Elle held her hands out towards Billy. "Come on baby, come and see Mama."

Billy bounced on his legs as he held onto Daddy's hands and leaned towards Mama.

Will slowly pulled first one hand and then the other out of Billy's grip until the baby boy was standing on his own, even though he wobbled slightly and then regained his balance.

Elle smiled as she watched Billy standing all on his own, his little head turning from side to side as he looked around the room.

Billy shrieked excitedly as he looked around the room. Then he wobbled again. This time he didn't regain his balance and he fell down on his diapered little butt.

Elle watched the shocked expression cross Billy's face and then he sniffled a little. He scooted forward on his hands and knees and crawled to his Mama and into her lap.

Will shook his head. "Maybe tomorrow." He said as he crossed the room in a few strides and sat down on the floor next to Elle.

"He's only 10 months. He'll walk when he's ready and he's never stood like that all on his own before." Elle said and leaned over and kissed her husband.

Will nodded. "Yeah I suppose we shouldn't rush him. Before you know it he'll be asking for the keys to the car and we'll be wondering where the time went. Won't we big guy?" Will said as he reached over and tickled Billy's tummy.

Billy giggled and gave his Daddy a toothy grin.

 

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"Okay big guy how about a nice big smile" The photographer said as she looked through the viewfinder of the camera at the gorgeous family in front of her.

Morgan smiled as he continued looking at the camera in front of him and reached over and tickled Jake's tummy where he sat in Penelope's lap.

Jake giggled as he squirmed under Daddy's fingers.

The photographer laughed and snapped the shot. It was too cute to pass up and she had a feeling it would turn out well. "Okay Dad how about we stand you up behind the bench and stand Jake up on the bench. Mom, you stay where you are."

After several more very cute poses, the Morgan family's photo session was over. They bundled up Jake and headed home.

Penelope got lost in her thoughts from a few weeks ago about having another baby as she glanced back into the back seat to look at Jake who was busy playing with a truck in his car seat while they headed home. She smiled as she watched her 19 month old son mutter to himself as he played. He was absolutely adorable. Everyday he looked a little bit more like his Daddy. His curls were filling in from being just light fuzzy baby hair to a full head of hair. He had a bright smile with cute little dimples and he was so cheerful. Why wouldn't she want another baby?

"Hey baby girl, what are you thinking about? I can hear that beautiful brain of your whirring away from way over here." Derek said as he glanced at Penelope briefly and then turned his eyes back to the road.

Penelope turned back around in her seat from watching Jake and turned to look at Derek. "Do you ever think about us having another baby?"

"I…" Derek paused and pulled over to the side of the road, not wanting to endanger his family or anyone else on the road with distracted driving on his part. "What brought this on?"

Penelope shrugged. "At New Year's I was teasing JJ about how she really wasn't helping out the girl to boy ratio by having another boy. I just… Jake's going to be two in a few months… and I… another baby would nice. Don't you want to have more kids?"

Derek glanced in the rear view mirror and smiled when he saw Jake making truck noises while playing with his truck. Then he turned to look at Penelope. "Baby girl… I hadn't really thought about it. I never knew that I wanted a family until Jake was on the way. I was always terrified that I wouldn't be able to protect a family from everything that happened to me when I was a kid. The world is a scary place… but you've brought so much light and sunshine into my life mama. How could I not want to have more kids with you?"

"Aw you, my chocolate god, say the sweetest things." Penelope said as she leaned over to kiss Derek briefly and then wiped tears from her eyes.

Derek smirked. "Besides I remember how much fun making Jake was … so I can only imagine how much fun making another baby with you will be when we're actually trying."

"You, my dark knight, have absolutely no idea." Penelope said in a sultry voice that caused a shiver to go down her husband's spine.

"Trust me baby girl, I definitely look forward to finding out." Derek said in low voice as he leaned over and kissed Penelope one more time. Then he took her hand in his, checked his mirrors, and pulled back out in traffic to head home.

 

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"Dada wook Memo and Dory!" Henry said gleefully as they stopped to look in the large wall length tank that housed the tropical fish. Sure enough, Henry had managed to spot the brightly colored Clown fish and Blue Tangs. The tank was a beautiful mixture of blues, reds, oranges, yellows, and every other color imaginable as all of the tropical fish swam in the large exhibit. Then divers swam up to the window and waved at all of the kids.

Chloe gasped. "What are dey doing?"

"They're probably making sure everything is safe for all the fish in the tank." Rebecca said as she looked down at Chloe in the stroller.

"How do dey breathe?" Chloe asked.

Spence smiled. At three years old, Chloe was constantly asking questions about the world around her. He loved it and how smart his little girl was. He knelt down next to the stroller and pointed at the divers. "Well do you see how they have masks over their faces and that hose that goes to their mouths?"

"Uh huh" Chloe said nodding.

"Well the mask lets them see without the water getting in their eyes and the hose has air for them to breath. See the hose goes to the tanks they're wearing on their backs. That tank holds the air for them to breathe. Do you see the bubbles that it looks like they're blowing?" he asked as he pointed to the bubbles coming out of the divers' regulators.

Chloe nodded.

"Those bubbles are because their breathing underwater. The air they're breathing out makes the bubbles." Spence explained.

"Oooooh" Chloe replied.

After some time spent looking at all of the fish, they'd moved on to the Upland Tropical Rainforest exhibit.

"Fwogs!" Henry chirped as he saw the bright blue Blue Poison Dart Frogs hop along inside the habitat.

"Look Mommy, monkeys!" Chloe said as she pointed to the monkeys in the habitat.

"I see baby." JJ said as she knelt down next to Chloe and Henry in their stroller. "Do you see all the pretty birds?" she asked as she pointed to the tree branches that held brightly colored parrots and other rainforest birds.

"Wots dat?" Henry asked as he pointed to the furry creature that was hanging upside down from a tree branch.

"That's a sloth" Spence explained as he leaned over the back of the stroller to look at Henry.

"How about we go watch the dolphin show?" JJ said, rubbing her lower back as she stood up from kneeling next to Chloe.

"Is he kicking?" Spence asked in concern as he stood back up and wrapped an arm around JJ's waist and rubbed her back.

"I'm fine Spence. It was just a twinge." JJ replied.

"Are you sure?" Spence asked in concern.

"Trust me; I will definitely let you know right away when I go into labor this time." JJ said smiling fondly as she looked down at Chloe and Henry in the stroller. "Now let's go see the dolphins."

JJ smiled as she watched Chloe completely mesmerized by the dolphins as they danced and played in the pool down below. They jumped through hoops. They danced across the surface of the tank. They played catch with one of the trainers. Then it was time to feed the dolphins and they picked volunteers out of the audience.

"How about you sweetie?" one of the trainers asked Chloe who was sitting on the end of the second row in Rebecca's lap. "Would you like to feed the dolphins?"

"Otay!" Chloe replied excitedly her eyes growing wide. "Bec you come wif me?"

"Sure Chloe, I'll come with you." Rebecca replied and glanced over at JJ who was seated next to her.

JJ nodded and smiled as she watched Bec and Chloe take the couple of stairs down to the deck of the pool. Then she turned to Spence. "Baby will you get the camera out of the backpack please?"

Spence chuckled and nodded as he bent down to the backpack resting by JJ's feet and pulled out the camera and handed it to JJ.

"Where Cwoe go?" Henry asked looking at Mommy.

"She and Bec are going to feed the dolphins." JJ explained. "See?" she said pointing out Chloe and Rebecca down on the deck of the pool.

Down on the pool deck the trainer was introducing Chloe to Sally the dolphin. The dolphin closed its eyes and sighed as Chloe petted it on its bottle nose.

"Okay Chloe" the trainer said. "Now we need to feed Sally. Rebecca might need to help you okay?"

"Okay" Chloe said with a nod of her head as the trainer held up the bucket of fish for her. The fish were slippery so Rebecca helped Chloe to grab one to feed to Sally the dolphin.

Sally chirped and chortled in dolphin noises as Rebecca and Chloe pulled out the fish to give to her. Then after feeding the dolphin they climbed back to their seats.

"Did you see me Mommy?" Chloe asked with a large grin on her face at having gotten to feed the dolphin.

"I did baby. I even got a picture of you petting the dolphin and a couple of you feeding the dolphin too." JJ replied with a smile.

"Her name is Sally." Chloe said, her eyes lighting up as she spoke about her new dolphin friend.

JJ and Spence smiled as they listened to Chloe chatter on about the dolphin.

After the dolphins, the family made their way to the Wings in the Water exhibit to see the sharks, stingrays, and a green sea turtle. Henry and Chloe oooed and ahhed as the watched the sharks and stingrays swim by. Then the sea turtle swam by.

"Mama tuwtwe!" Henry exclaimed as he leaned forward excitedly in the stroller.

"I see baby. The turtles are your favorite aren't they?" JJ asked as she knelt down next to Henry.

"Uh huh" Henry chirped as he bounced up and down in the stroller watching the sea turtle swim past the window. "Where his odder arm?" Henry asked.

JJ looked at Henry in confusion for a moment and then looked back out the viewing window and noticed that Henry was right. The sea turtle was missing a flipper. She looked over at Spence who was at the moment reading through everything about the sea turtle.

Spence stepped back over and knelt down next to Henry and Chloe. "This turtle's name is Calypso." Spence said as he pointed out the viewing window as the turtle made another pass. "He was rescued from a bay when he was littler than you. He only weighed six pounds back then. When they found him, he was really sick and had a bad owie on his flipper. He was so sick and his flipper was hurt so bad that they couldn't fix it, so they had to remove it so that it wouldn't make the rest of him sick."

Henry scrunched his face up as he thought about what Daddy said and he watched Calypso swim past the window again. "I glad dey save him." Henry said and turned to look at Daddy.

"Me too buddy."

"He bigger den me now."

"Yeah he is. That's what happens when you eat all of your vegetables. You get big and strong. In fact, did you know that's all Calypso eats is vegetables?" Spence asked as he turned to look at Henry and Chloe.

JJ and Rebecca chuckled as they listened to Spence subtly telling Chloe and Henry to eat their vegetables and watched Calypso swim a little bit longer before moving on to the next exhibit.

 

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JJ chuckled as she glanced back into the back seat and noticed that not only were Chloe and Henry sound asleep from the car ride home, but so was Rebecca.

Spence reached across the console and took JJ's hand in his. "How are you feeling?"

JJ turned back from looking in the back seat and settled back comfortably against the seat for the hour or so drive home. "Good. It was nice to get out today and stretch my legs a bit. I think I'm going to sleep really well tonight." She said with a sigh as she rested her head against the seat. "How about you baby? How's your head?"

Spence nodded. "Okay. No headache so far today."

JJ rubbed her thumb over the back of Spence's hand comfortingly. She knew he'd been suffering silently with the on again off again headaches and that when he had one, they could be pretty intense. "I'll call Dr. Green's office on Monday and see when he can get you in."

Spence nodded. "Okay… I just… I'm scarred JJ."

JJ nodded and lifted Spence's hand up and kissed each of his knuckles. "I know baby, but we'll figure it out. I'll see if they can get you in on short notice, or what they can do to work around your schedule."

 

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Jason hummed along to the jazz music he had playing on the stereo as he chopped garlic and scooped it up throwing it in the pan along with the peppers he was currently sautéing.

"Mm It smells amazing in here Jason." Sarah said as she slipped into the kitchen with a couple of bottles of wine. She set the bottles of wine on the counter and wrapped her arms around Jason's waist and leaned up to kiss the man she wished she would have realized she wanted to spend the rest of her life with 30 years ago.

"Mm" Jason moaned into the kiss and then smiled down at Sarah as he pulled away from her lips. "Hello Sarah"

"Hello Jason. So what are you making for dinner?" She asked as she smoothed down the front of his shirt and turned to look at what he had in all of the pans on the stove.

 

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Sean McCallister sighed as he closed his cell phone. He apparently had been transferred to a wrong number. Instead of reaching Emily Prentiss, he'd spoken with a Penelope Garcia. He'd have to try to get in touch with Emily later. Right now he had an important meeting to get to. He stepped out of the hallway alcove that he'd stepped into to call Emily and back across the hall to the conference room and one of the many meetings for which he'd come to the States.

"Ah there you are Sean." The Director of the CIA said as he came across the room to meet Sean. "There are some people you need to meet and then we'll get this meeting started." He said as he led Sean across the room to the far end of the conference room where the Secretary of State and Director of the FBI sat speaking with Jennifer Jareau Reid.

 

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"Where are Seaver and Hawkes?" Rossi asked as Emily and Penelope entered the round table room. He'd taken to calling Zoe Hawkes by just her last name, partly to keep things equal between the two cadets, but also because he realized that he called everyone else on the team by their last names for the most part.

"They had to take a test at the Academy." Emily explained.

"We've all seen the news." Hotch said as he handed the iPads and case files. "Mass murder in Miles City Montana. Six people shot and killed at a gas station."

"Robbery?" Emily asked.

"No apparent motive." Rossi said as he flipped through the case file.

"Any security footage?" Reid asked as he glanced up at Hotch.

"No. No cameras. No witnesses. Ballistics say we're looking at two shooters." Hotch replied before turning back to the screen and pulling up the victims.

"Well something at the station must have triggered them. It doesn't look like they had much of a plan." Morgan said as he looked up from the case file.

"This could end up being a high body count in a hurry." Elle added as she flipped through the case file.

Rossi nodded. "Spree killers often repeat themselves."

"Wheels up in thirty. We need to get to Montana tonight." Hotch said as he grabbed his files and headed out of the conference room.

 

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"The unsubs are becoming more and more confident," Reid said to Emily and Elle as they waited for the medical examiner to open one of the drawers in the morgue. "which means their weapons are becoming more and more personal. The excitement of the brutality allows them to overcome their human inhibitions. Why is this one covered?" he asked as he stepped around the end of the tray to take a look at the victim's body.

"It's the store clerk. Guy got it pretty bad."

Reid pulled back the sheet to take a look at the bloody beaten remains of the victim. "In mid-evil times this would be just another Monday." Reid said as he dropped the sheet back down on the victim.

"He was sodomized with a tire iron." The medical examiner said with a slight degree of horror and discomfort in his voice.

"That kind of overkill suggests he was the root of their aggression." Emily replied as she turned to look at Elle and Reid. "Maybe their zeroing in on what's really pissing them off."

Elle nodded. "Well I think it's safe to say that when we do find out who they are, we'll find a history of sexual abuse in their backgrounds. I don't think we'd be seeing that component in the overkill if they didn't have a history of sexual abuse in their backgrounds."

 

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"So then what happened?" Reid asked as the team sat playing cards together on the jet.

"I think what I told Ray about Sidney giving Amy the heroin got through to him and made him see who Sidney really was and just what exactly she'd gotten him into." Morgan said as he tossed a peanut in his mouth. "Then he let the little girl go… and then it was the shootout." He continued as he tossed a few more peanuts in his mouth.

"Hey, you're eating the winnings." Elle said poking Morgan in the shoulder. "There is one thing that we can be glad about though."

"What's that?" Emily asked with laugh as she watched big tough Derek Morgan rubbing his shoulder where Elle had poked him.

"With all the other people they killed without batting an eye, they let that little girl live." Elle replied.

Hotch nodded. "Even the most ruthless criminals detest people who hurt children. It's why child molesters do so poorly in prison."

"I'd also venture to guess that Sidney Manning saw her own destroyed innocence in her half-sister as well. It probably saved that girls life." Rossi added wondering with a shake of his head how anyone could do what Gary Manning had done to his daughter to their own child, let alone any child. It was true the sins of the father did visit themselves upon the son... and the daughter.

 

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"See you later pretty boy" Morgan teased as they headed for their vehicles.

Reid shook his head as he paused and turned to look at Morgan. "You know Morgan; someday you really are going to have to get over your jealousy of my good looks."

"Oh ho… burn." Elle said as she came up between them and slipped her arms through both of theirs, leading them over to where their vehicles were parked. "Tell JJ I said hi chico." Elle said lifting her head and messing up Reid's hair before she headed over to her car. "I'll see you all tomorrow." She tossed over her shoulder before she climbed in and started the car and then drove out of the hangar.

Emily laughed as she watched Morgan, Reid, and Elle's antics. They were like the brothers and sister she always wanted as a kid. Then she turned to Aaron. "How would you feel about stopping on the way home for a drink with an old friend of mine?"

"Sure" Aaron replied as he took Emily's bag from her and opened the back hatch of the SUV placing them both inside.

 

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"Hey what are you still doing awake?" Spence asked JJ as he entered their bedroom.

"Oh, hey" JJ said with a smile as she looked up from the troubling files that she was attempting to make heads or tails of from her meeting earlier today. How was anyone supposed to catch an escaped fugitive with less than half of the information that was known about the man, especially a man like Ian Doyle? She closed the file of mostly redacted information and slid it into her briefcase, locked it, and set it off to the side of the bed.

"Hey yourself" Spence said as he sat down on the edge of the bed next to JJ and ran his hand over her belly. Then he leaned in and kissed her. The baby kicked happily under the palm of his Daddy's hand. Spence smiled as he pulled out of the kiss. "It's hard to believe that I ever thought this was weird." He said nodding at her belly.

JJ nodded and set her hand on top of Spence's. "I know. It's all gone by so fast. But the next few weeks until he's ready to make his appearance are going to go especially fast."

"Especially if he takes after his big sister and brother and makes his appearance about three weeks early." Spence said with a smile and leaned in and kissed JJ again.

"Mm" JJ moaned as Spence's lips separated from hers. "Just so I don't forget, I was able to get you an appointment with Dr. Green for next week. His receptionist was expecting the call and told me that if anything comes up they can move the appointment, we just have to let them know."

"Okay" Spence nodded his forehead against hers and then kissed her again.

"Spence" JJ moaned against her husband's lips, "you need to go shower and get ready for bed."

"How about a bath and you join me?" Spence asked as he nuzzled against JJ's neck.

"You drive a hard bargain Dr. Reid." JJ moaned again as her head tipped back and Spence took full advantage of her exposed throat. She moaned again as his lips left her neck; he sat up and pulled away the covers. Then, Spence stood up and helped JJ out of bed. Hand in hand they headed for the master bathroom and a bubble bath for two.

 

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Emily smiled as she led Aaron through the classy, dimly lit bar to meet one of her oldest and dearest friends.

"Emily Prentiss" Sean said as he stood up out of the booth, then he saw Aaron and looked at Emily. "And might this be the fine and noble Aaron Hotchner?"

Emily laughed. "Sean McCallister, Aaron Hotchner; Aaron, Sean."

"Hello" Aaron said leaning forward to shake hands with Sean.

Sean nodded at Aaron as they finished their handshake and then wrapped Emily in a friendly hug causing her to laugh again. The sound was music to Sean's ears as he hadn't heard Emily laugh much on the last case they'd worked together seven years ago, and he didn't suppose he would hear her laughing again after he told her the news he had.

"Sean, how are ya?" Emily asked as she pulled back from the friendly hug.

"Good" Sean replied as he released Emily. Then they all three moved to take a seat in the booth at the back of bar he'd asked Emily to meet him at. Naturally he sat facing the door, knowing what he knew.

"So, I was going to call you back, I just got busy on a case." Emily said after she, Aaron and Sean were comfortably ensconced in the high backed leather booth.

"I… I had to be in DC anyway." Sean said softly in his Scottish brogue.

Emily grew concerned as she watched Sean and his mannerisms at the moment.

"Ian Doyle vanished from prison."

Emily's eyes went wide as she sat in shock and she reached over into Aaron's lap to grab his hand.

"Interpol can't find him."

"What are you saying?" Emily asked in a concerned voice as her mind ran over all the possibilities.

Sean looked down, realizing how much the system had failed them, failed Emily after all she'd sacrificed seven years ago to capture the man in the first place. After a moment of contemplation, his eyes snapped up to meet Emily's. "He's off the grid Emily."

"Do you think he's headed here?" Emily asked in concern as she thought of how this would affect everyone.

Sean sat speechless as he looked at Emily. This wasn't supposed to have happened. Ian Doyle should be nothing more than a story they never told anyone. If he found out how the bastard escaped… well that wasn't the issue now. He'd attended a meeting regarding Ian Doyle's escape and the task force being put together to capture him. He was warning Emily now, and then he was going to go home to take his own precautions to protect his family.

"Am I... are we in danger?" Emily asked with a slight waver in her voice.

Sean paused as he looked down to gather his thoughts and then looked back up at Emily again. "We all are."

Aaron swallowed and squeezed Emily's hand as they contemplated just exactly what that meant with everything that Emily had told him about Ian Doyle a couple of years ago.


	6. Chapter 6

"Mm… you are a brilliant, brilliant man Spencer Reid." JJ sighed in absolute bliss as she sank back against her husband's chest in the bath tub.

"Hmm… it's nice to be appreciated." Spence murmured as he lowered his head and kissed her shoulder.

JJ's fingernails raked along her husband's thighs as she shifted in his arms and leaned back, her head resting on his shoulder, tipped to the side, allowing him access as his lips continued to peruse the soft flesh of her neck and shoulder. Warm vanilla scented vapor from the tub enveloped them, the humid air condensing on their skin where it was exposed to the air.

Spence inhaled deeply, taking comfort from being close to his wife after a hell of a case that had taken the team across Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Sharing a bubble bath with JJ… that was his idea of nirvana he thought to himself as his fingertips trailed up and down her arms, sluicing through the bubbles, while his lips continued to dance across her collar bone.

Goose bumps raised on JJ's skin at the feel of Spence running his fingertips lightly up and down her arms while his lips caressed her shoulder. "Spence" she moaned softly as she felt his fingers leave her arms and then his hands caressed her belly softly.

Spence rubbed his hands softly across his wife's belly, smiling into the kiss he placed on the pulse point of her neck as he felt the baby move; shift; and stretch his legs out, causing his foot to press against the side of his Mommy's belly. Then Spence slipped his hands between them and rubbed at JJ's lower back, which he knew had to be bothering her.

"Mm… that feels amazing." JJ moaned arching her back as Spence's thumbs moved in circles over the tight muscles that were strained by the additional weight of the baby. "What did I ever do to deserve a husband as wonderful as you?" she asked as she turned her head and kissed Spence's neck.

"You loved me for who I am and you never asked me to change." Spence replied as he kissed JJ's temple. "It was an equitable exchange though. I love you JJ." Spence whispered with his forehead resting against her temple as his hands skimmed past her hips and along the length of her thighs.

"I love you too baby." JJ replied, lifting and turning her head so that she could look up into Spence's eyes.

Spence dropped his forehead to rest on JJ's, maintaining eye contact as he slid his hands up and down the silky smooth skin of his wife's thigh, moving ever closer to her center with each pass of his hands

JJ gasped as she felt Spence thumb graze her ever so slightly and then she whined softly at the loss when his hand moved away on the downward stroke of her thigh.

Spence tipped his head and captured JJ's lips with his as his fingers teased the skin of her inner thigh at her knee. His hand glided up the distance between her knee and her hip, pausing for a moment at the top and then repeated the path between her knee and hip for a few more cycles as he reveled in the feeling of his wife's skin underneath his fingertips. After almost six years together he knew just what JJ liked, and on the next pass of his hand up her thigh, it didn't go to her hip, but to her center.

JJ crooned her approval as Spence's talented fingers slid through her folds, teasing ever so softly as he stroked. "Spence, baby…" JJ keened in a low voice.

"Do you like that?" Spence whispered in her ear. "Does it feel good?"

"Yes… oh god, yes... Spence, baby…" JJ moaned in reply as she writhed under her husband's touch.

"Good, I just want you to feel good." Spence groaned in her ear as her hips twitched back against his erection where it pressed against her ass. His fingers continued to tease and tantalize the soft skin of her nether region.

"What… what a…about you?" JJ managed to ask as she moaned again and ground her hips back, this time purposefully, against her husband's erection.

"What about me?" Spence replied as he kissed away the dewy moisture that had gathered on her shoulder while his fingers continued to tease and stroke his wife.

"Spence… baby…" JJ whined, her eyes fluttering shut in bliss, as Spence slipped two fingers into her and his thumb strummed across her nub causing her to shudder in pleasure. "I want you to feel good too… I want you to… oh god, baby." She moaned as she arched back into Spence's chest.

"Okay, whatever you want JJ…" Spence murmured against the shell of his wife's ear as he slid his hands down JJ's thighs and grasped her legs behind the knees and then lifted them over his own, then his hands slip up her thighs to her hips and lifted her up in the water as he scooted down lower in the tub. JJ was now straddling his lap.

JJ reached back and wrapped her arm around Spence's neck as she lifted her hips up to accommodate him and then sank down his length, pausing for a moment at familiar fullness, then she began to raise and lower her hips. Her fingers twined in the hair at the nape of Spence's neck as she pulled him down so she could kiss him.

As the kiss continued on, Spence wrapped an arm around her waist, helping to steady her and the weight of the baby as she rose and fell. His other hand fell to her hip holding on with a gentle grip as they found their rhythm. He lifted his hips, bucking into JJ as she leaned back against him, draping her body over his as their hips worked in unison. Then his hand slid back to her center and he stroked her pearl, knowing that it would push her over the edge.

JJ was lost in a sea of sensation. She clamped down on Spence as he slowly rocked his hips against hers; her hips twisted and twitched as she eagerly met him thrust for thrust. She gripped her hand along the back of Spence's neck, holding on for dear life as they continued a series of hot sweet kisses, pausing occasionally to catch their breath and then beginning again when they'd felt the loss of each other's lips for too long. Spence's hand between her legs was wreaking havoc on her nervous system as he circled, stroked, flicked, and teased. The water and bubbles in the tub washed along her skin. With each movement she and Spence made, the water and bubbles lapped at her skin. The repeating ebb and flow of warm water and bubbles across her already sensitive breasts and nipples combined with everything else sent JJ spiraling headlong into the abyss. "Spence!" she cried out as her body shuddered, her chest heaved, and she collapsed back against Spence's chest.

"JJ" Spence grunted as he burrowed his face into the hollow of her throat, his legs and arms trembling as he followed JJ into their sweet release.

They cuddled together for a bit as they recovered. Then JJ turned in Spence's arms and kissed him softly. "Come on baby, we need to go to bed."

"Hmm… the water's getting cold anyway." Spence said as he sat up and leaned forward and pulled the drain plug on the tub. Then he turned on the shower and stood up. He reached down and helped JJ to her feet. "So what do we have planned for tomorrow?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around JJ under the warm spray of the shower.

"Mm" JJ moaned as she rested her head on Spence's chest while the shower rinsed away the bubbles. "I was thinking we should get Henry's hair cut and then we can finish up the nursery."

"Sounds like a plan." Spence murmured against the top of JJ's head. Then he reached down and turned off the shower. He reached out of the shower and grabbed the large fluffy towels he'd set out earlier and wrapped one around JJ and then held her hand as she stepped out of the shower. He grabbed the second towel for himself and wrapped it around his waist and stepped out of the shower himself.

 

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Emily sighed in relief as she and Aaron checked on Avery and Seth who were both sleeping peacefully. At least their babies were peacefully sleeping. After the news they'd received from Sean, she didn't think she'd be able to sleep peacefully until Doyle was back in prison.

She reached out and softly brushed Avery's ebony locks back from her face and then leaned over and pressed a kiss to the one year old's forehead. "Sleep well baby, Mommy loves you." Emily whispered as she stood up. Then she moved across the room, repeating the process with Seth, who slept soundly in his crib.

The Hotchner family was definitely in need of a larger house, one where the kids each had their own room and a yard to play in. Emily and Aaron had been planning on looking at houses over the next few weeks to see what their options were. 'That's going to have to wait until after we've dealt with Doyle' Emily mused in her head as she stood against the rail of Seth's crib looking down at him as she trailed her fingers over the baby boy's head. She knew that as much as they needed a new house, their odds of defending themselves and the kids, should it come to that, fared much better in familiar territory.

"I'd ask what you're thinking about, but I already know the answer." Aaron said as he stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest while he took in the sight of Emily tucking in their youngest two children. He walked into the nursery and wrapped an arm around Emily as he looked down at their youngest with Emily. He smiled as he watched the sleeping baby boy. Then he glanced over his shoulder to see that Avery was also sound asleep. "Are you ready to talk about it?" Aaron asked as he led his wife out of the nursery and down the hall to their bedroom.

 

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"So what were you thinking?" The stylist asked as Spence lifted Henry up into the kiddy hairstylist chair that was shaped like a car.

JJ bit her lip in thought for moment. "I'm not sure. I know he needs it trimmed so it's not in his eyes, but…" JJ trailed off.

The hairstylist smiled. "But you want to keep it a little bit longer for now?" the hairstylist asked knowingly. After all, she saw mothers coming in to get their baby's first haircut done all the time. A lot of the mothers cried when the baby curls were cut off and their children left looking more like big boys and girls than babies.

JJ nodded while she watched Spence bending down and talking to Henry.

"Okay then, how about a bowl cut for now? It will keep a lot of the length like you want, but it will trim it up so his hair isn't in his eyes anymore."

JJ smiled; glad the hairstylist understood exactly what she wanted, as she nodded in agreement. "That sounds perfect."

"Alright then Mr. Henry let's get you all set here." The stylist said as she wrapped the cape around Henry's shoulders.

Henry glanced down at the cape that now completely covered him and made a face as he poked at the inside of the cape with his fingers. He giggled as the cape made a crinkling sound and then bulged out in front of him.

The stylist smiled as she ran a comb through the little boy's hair. He was definitely a cutie. "So Mommy, how short were you thinking? About here?" the stylist asked as she held her finger at about the middle of Henry's ear.

JJ nodded in slight surprise as she realized just how long Henry's hair had gotten. He looked almost like Daddy before he'd gotten his hair cut last spring.

"Okay." The stylist replied and then she gather a section and wrapped a rubber band tightly around it just below where she would be cutting to and snipped off the bundled lock of hair, placed it in a baggie, and handed it to Mommy.

JJ's eyes teared up ever so slightly as she glanced down at the blonde lock of baby fine hair that rested in the baggie in the palm of her hand. Then she made sure the baggie was sealed and stashed it away in her purse to go in Henry's baby book later. Then she smiled as she watched Henry hold his Daddy's hand while the stylist trimmed his hair from the wild tussled locks of a baby to the very cute bowl cut of a toddler.

 

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"Mama?" Henry asked as JJ strapped him into his car seat.

"Yes Henry?" JJ smiled as she smiled at Henry.

"I hunwy."

JJ glanced down at her watch. "Well how about we go home and have lunch with Chloe and Rebecca?"

Henry nodded. "Pisa?" he asked hopefully.

"You want pizza?" Mommy asked.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded his new haircut bouncing slightly as he nodded his head.

"Hmm… do you think Chloe and Bec would like pizza for lunch too?" Mommy asked as she glanced at Spence over the seat of the car and winked.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded again.

"What about Daddy?" Mommy asked with a smile.

"Dada wike pisa?" Henry asked as he looked at Daddy in the front seat of the car.

"I do like pizza." Daddy said as he smiled at Henry and JJ.

"Hmm… well then I think since you were such a good boy about getting your hair cut, we can have pizza for lunch." Mommy said and then kissed Henry on the top of the head.

 

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"JJ, babe, can you…" Spence paused as they walked out from picking up the pizzas at the take and bake place. Spence had Henry in one arm two pizzas in his hand, and his cell phone was ringing in his pants pocket.

"Why certainly." JJ replied with a smirked as she reached playfully into Spence's pants pocket with her free hand.

Spence groaned as JJ squeezed him briefly just before she pulled out his phone.

"Dr. Spencer Reid's phone" JJ answered as she leaned up and pecked Spence on the corner of his mouth. "Oh… hey Hotch" JJ replied, her stomach sinking with the thought that the team was needed on a case over the weekend. "Oh… okay… sure... okay. We'll see you then."

"What did Hotch need?" Spence asked as JJ slipped his phone back in his pocket.

"It was strange. He wanted to know if it would be okay if everyone got together at our place this afternoon, but he didn't say why."

Spence looked down at the two pizzas in his hand and then looked at JJ. "We should put these in the car and get a few more pizzas. We'll just tell everybody to come over for lunch."

"Okay, I'll call Hotch back and have him tell everybody." JJ said as she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and opened the car door for Spence to be able to set the pizzas inside.

 

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"I'll get it." Spence said at the sound of the ringing doorbell as he pulled a cheese pizza for the kids out of the oven and sat it on top of the stove. He paused to kiss JJ, who sat at the kitchen table with Chloe and Henry as they munched on some mixed fruit and some veggies while they waited for the pizza to be ready for them to eat.

"Hey pretty boy" Morgan said with a smile at Reid as he opened the front door. Derek and Penelope stepped across the threshold of the doorway and into the Reid household.

"Hey man… Hey Garcia." Reid said smiling at his friends. Even though technically Penelope was now a Morgan, the team still affectionately called her Garcia as well as calling her by her first name. "Hi Jake" Reid said smiling at his godson, who was happily perched in his Daddy's arms, as Morgan pulled the blanket off of the boy's head.

"What do you think Hotch and Emily wanted to get together for?" Morgan asked Reid as they headed for the kitchen.

"I have no idea… maybe they're having another baby?" Reid speculated.

Penelope tipped her head to the side in contemplation and then shook her head. "No… our Emily isn't showing symptoms of being preggers. It has to be something else." Her mind raced as she attempted to figure out what could be going on with the dark haired dynamic duo.

Then the doorbell rang again. "Excuse me, I'm going to get that, but JJ and the kids are in the kitchen." He said over his shoulder as he turned back towards the entry way.

 

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The group sat together in the Reid's kitchen. Everyone had arrived but Hotch and Emily at this point. Morgan and Will were helping Reid with shuffling the pizzas in and out of the oven and getting them cut. Dave was holding Billy and making funny faces at the currently youngest baby of the group, causing him to laugh and giggle at his Uncle Dave.

"So, no Erin this afternoon?" Elle asked from where she sat next to Dave.

"No" Dave replied shaking his head. "She and Courtney are out shopping for the perfect prom dress."

"Ah" Elle said with a nod of her head in understanding of how important the perfect prom dress was at seventeen.

 

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"JJ" Gideon said as he took a sip of his coffee, "I just want you to know that Hotch, Dave, and I haven't given up on getting you back from the Pentagon. I had a meeting with the Director this week… he'd like you back as well. He isn't happy about the fact that one of his agents was co-opted right out from underneath him with no say whatsoever on his part. We'll figure it out soon."

JJ rubbed her belly where the baby was kicking. "Thanks. It's nice to know you're still trying… but don't worry sir; I'll completely understand if it isn't possible."

Gideon nodded and then smiled as he looked around the room for a moment, taking in how close the team had become over the years. It was moments like this that made him appreciate life and how good it was. The sound of happy toddlers and babies filled the Reid's kitchen. The team had grown and shrank in different ways over the years, but they really had become family. Of course he'd never forget about the six agents he lost in Boston… he'd carry their memories with him always. But he'd finally forgiven himself for sending them into that building… for surviving while they died. He'd made a promise to them at their funerals that they hadn't died in vain. Looking around at the agents currently gathered here and thinking about Hotch and Emily who were still en route, he couldn't help but be proud of everything the team had accomplished since then, both professionally and personally. He wondered what the old team would have thought of the new team. And he realized that a large part of what the new team had become was the result of JJ's second chance. Then he resolved himself once more to finding a way to get her back on the team.

He turned and looked at JJ again as he stood up from the table. "If we can't find a way, we'll make a way." He said as he squeezed JJ's shoulder. Then he stepped over to the other side of the kitchen to help the guys with the food preparations.

 

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JJ smiled as she turned to look at Penelope who sat next to Jake who was in a booster seat at the table with Chloe and Henry. "I can't get over what a perfect combination of you and Derek Jake is growing into."

"He is pretty cute with his perfect complexion, blond corkscrew curls, and his Daddy's devastatingly dark eyes, isn't he?" Penelope replied with a proud Mama's smile on her face.

JJ nodded. "I think you're going to have a heartbreaker on your hands when he's older. Mothers lock up your daughters." JJ laughed.

 

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"Hey look who decided to join us." Morgan said as he looked up as Reid led the Hotchner family into the kitchen just as he, Will, and Gideon finished getting everything ready.

Chloe perked up at seeing Aunt Emily and Uncle Hotch. "Where Jack?" Chloe asked as Emily sat Avery on the seat next to Chloe.

"Oh sweetie, Jack couldn't come today. He's with his Mommy this weekend." Emily replied as she gave Chloe a hello hug.

Chloe sighed. "Okay… can you teww him I said hi?"

Emily smiled. "I definitely will. He says hi too." Then she turned to look at her godson. "Henry, I like your haircut."

Henry grinned at his godmother. "I want it wike Dada's. Mama say no."

Emily chuckled enjoying the remaining time before she and Aaron rained down havoc and chaos on the group when they shared the information about Ian Doyle. She thought back to the conversation she and Aaron had the night before as the planned how to tell the team. Aaron had wanted to use the SCIF, but she hadn't been sure that going into the Bureau on the weekend would go unnoticed if somehow Doyle already had managed to get eyes on her. She could only hope she was making the right decision. Then she turned to glance at JJ and she knew that if anyone would understand, it would be JJ. "Yeah, I think Mommy made the right choice buddy. If you had Daddy's haircut how would we tell you apart?"

Henry looked puzzled for minute and then looked over at Daddy, then over at Mommy, then back at Aunt Emily. "You siwwy. I wittle no big wike Dada."

JJ smiled at Henry's logical reasoning in response to Emily's teasing, just like certain other genius she knew. "Aunt Emily was only teasing baby. We'd still have been able to tell you apart from Daddy, but Mommy doesn't want you to look as grown up as Daddy yet. I want you to look like my baby boy Henry for just a little longer."

Henry nodded in agreement, as if Mommy's argument made perfect sense to him. "Otay"

By the time lunch was done, four very messy toddlers sat in their booster seats at the table with pizza sauce all over their faces. Billy and Seth weren't much better. They were seated in Chloe and Henry's old high chairs and their faces were covered in baby food.

A massive cleanup effort happened with the Mommies washing faces and hands before they turned the kids loose to play together for a little bit before they needed to be corralled for nap time.

Hotch watched intently as all the kids played together in the living room. He hoped against hope that no matter what happened they would be able to keep everyone safe. What he wouldn't give for JJ to still know the future… If only… He shook his head. Nothing productive would come from that line of thought at this point.

"Aaron, are you alright?" Dave asked as he sat down beside the man who'd become his best friend over the course of the last few years. "You're looking especially hyper vigilant today and I really don't think Reid and JJ's carpet has ever done anything to you to have earned the glare you're giving it." He joked.

"And I think its nap time." JJ said as she watched Chloe and Henry almost nodding off to sleep where they sat together on the floor with Jake and Avery playing with some toys.

Spence stood up and picked up Chloe and Henry in his arms. "Come on let's get you guys to bed before you use the pile of blocks as a pillow."

As JJ and Spence headed upstairs with Henry and Chloe to get them tucked in for their naps, everyone else set about getting the rest of the toddlers and babies down for naptime as well. A few minutes later when Spence and JJ descended down the stairs, all of the kids were sound asleep and napping in the living room. JJ and Spence followed the sound of low voices to their kitchen.

"We thought we'd come in here so that we wouldn't accidentally wake the kiddos up." Penelope said from where she sat at the table. "So Emily, my friend, what's going on… why the big gathering?" she asked as she prepared to interrogate her friend in her anxiousness to find out the news of what was going on.

Emily glanced to Aaron who was sitting next to her and took a deep breath. Aaron could sense Emily's nerves and took her hand in his and squeezed it in silent support as she prepared to tell her story.

Emily turned and looked at her closest friends, her chosen family, all gathered around JJ and Reid's table waiting for her to speak. She cleared her throat. "JJ do you remember back when I first joined the team and you asked me how come none of this gets to me? How I could come off of a desk job and suddenly be in the field surrounded by mutilated bodies and not even flinch?"

"Yeah… that was in Georgia, when Spence was…" JJ answered trailing off at the horrible memories of Georgia… both times.

Spence wrapped his arm around JJ and kissed her temple.

Emily nodded. "Yeah… you were right. I did come to the team from a desk job, but I'd only had it a few months. Before that I was part of a special task force. JTF-12."

"The group that was profiling terrorists after 9/11?" Dave asked as he leaned forward on his elbows where they rested on the table.

Emily nodded and swallowed. "It was a joint task force between several western countries. I was recruited to the task force not too long after I took the profiling classes because I thought they'd come in handy with my career at the CIA." Emily said dryly. "The nature of the profiling however was a bit different than what we do… it wasn't just a matter of delivering a profile… we used infiltration to bring the terrorist cells down from the inside."

"Emily, why are you choosing now, after all this time, to tell us about this?" Morgan asked calmly. He'd definitely learned to stop and listen after the last time he'd exploded over a large secret being kept from the team. But what nobody other than Penelope could see was his fist clenching and unclenching as he prepared for whatever news Emily was about to share with them.

Emily took another deep breath. "Seven years ago, the team and I took down a very dangerous man by the name of Ian Doyle. We worked for a long time to bring him down, over a year. He was a former IRA Captain who went freelance. I made contact with him in Boston because we were looking for intell on a terrorist who used the code name of Valhalla. We checked his background thoroughly searching for our way in to his group. We even looked through the background of all of his romantic relationships… I was his type." Emily said softly pausing to let the team absorb the information she'd shared so far.

The team all looked at Emily with wide eyes, wondering how bad the news could be if she was sharing something with them from before she even knew them.

"The reason I'm telling you this is because last night Aaron and I met with Sean McCallister. He and I became friends when he brought the JTF-12 in to help locate and apprehend Valhalla." Emily took one final deep breath. "Ian Doyle escaped from prison and Interpol can't find him. Everyone who worked the Ian Doyle cases is in danger. I couldn't let any of you be blindsided… and I also need your help. If it was just me, I would take care of it on my own… but it's not just me." Emily said as she glanced at Aaron and smiled sadly.

"So how do we find this guy? Let's catch him and put him back where he belongs." Morgan said as he leaned forward.

"Derek's right. We need to find Doyle as quickly as possible. There's a lot at stake and the sooner we catch him the better." Dave said with a nod of his head towards the living room indicating their sleeping children.

Reid sat absorbing every detail that was discussed, knowing that if they needed to recall something later, he was the team's best bet for fine detail.

"I need to get to my babies at Quantico and see what they can pull up for us on one Mr. Nasty Mean and Vicious." Penelope said as she started to push back from the table.

Emily smiled in appreciation that the team was behind her in this. "Wait, before we go off and start working on this, I need to give you all at least the complete set of cliff notes on what happened and how Doyle operates."

"What else do we need to know Emily?" Elle asked cautiously.

"Well for starters he had a little boy named Declan. He was incredibly protective of him and in fact I was one of the few people that knew Declan was Doyle's son." Emily said as she continued to fill the team in on everything she knew about Doyle; how he operated; how organized, meticulous, and driven he was; how he'd asked her to raise his son to follow in his footsteps; how after Doyle had been taken into custody she'd faked Declan's death so that he could have a normal life without being used as ammunition against his father.

"I know none of you started off as part of this… and I certainly don't want Doyle knowing you're helping me. He's going to be out for revenge in as big a way as possible. If he doesn't know that you're helping me, he sees you as being innocent as long as you don't get in his way. Now that he's out of prison, I also have to accept the fact that my cover as Lauren Reynolds and the fact that she is dead has been blown." Emily explained.

"Why would you automatically assume that you're cover is blown?" Will asked.

"Because it's safest to assume that. It also means we can set up some traps for anyone looking for information on Lauren Reynolds and Emily Prentiss." JJ answered.

Emily turned and looked at JJ in surprise.

"What exactly do you think I've been doing at the Pentagon?" JJ asked.

"Well, we actually weren't sure what you've been doing at the Pentagon." Morgan smirked. "But I did catch pretty boy with a big grin on his face while he was talking to you while we were on the way home on the jet a few weeks ago… so I think it's pretty safe to say that you and pretty boy are still… OW" Morgan rubbed his ribs where his wife had elbowed him.

"Leave JJ and her snuggle bunny alone." Penelope scolded. "Emily needs us right now… and one of these days, you are going to go too far in picking on Reid and he's going to fight back."

Emily laughed outright at the lightened mood and shook her head. "No Penelope, this is exactly what we need to do while we work on this. We need to continue to act as normal as possible. Unfortunately we can't drop everything and work solely on finding Doyle…"

"There's actually a task force already set up that's doing that." JJ added as she turned to look at Emily. "They convened this week, but with the majority of the file redacted, I don't know how far they're really going to get."

Emily nodded even she didn't have all of the information on Ian Doyle's case. "We'll find him. We have to, but in the meantime, like I said, we also have to make our lives look as normal as possible with a few slight and unnoticeable changes here and there that make us safer."

The team continued to talk about how to handle Doyle until the kids all woke up from their naps and then everyone headed for a home a little more world weary than they'd been before, but also more prepared for what was to come.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief as she snapped Seth into his car seat. The team had taken the news much better than she'd expected. To be honest she really hadn't known what to expect after what had happened when JJ shared her news a couple of years ago… but then she supposed the teams eyes, including hers, had been opened by everything they'd experienced in the last couple of years combined with what had happened… or more accurately, what JJ and Reid had stopped from happening in the few years before that.

"Feel better?" Aaron asked as he climbed into the driver's seat and turned to look at her as he started the car.

"I do." Emily said turning to smile at Aaron.

"Good" Aaron nodded and glanced into the review mirror and smiled at Avery.

Emily pulled out a disposable cell phone that she purchased explicitly for the phone call she was about to make right now. She dialed Tom Kohler's phone number from memory into the disposable cell phone. "It's me. I can't talk for long, but you need to know that what we hoped would never happen, has happened. Keep the three of you safe. Only call me if you absolutely have to. I'll contact you when it's over." With that, Emily hung up the phone and glanced over at Aaron.

Aaron nodded and pulled over next to the garbage can of the park they happened to be driving by. Emily got out of the car, dropped the disposable cell phone to the ground next to her, and stomped on it once, twice, three times, with the heel of her boot rendering it useless, and the phone number that had been called unrecoverable. She bent over scooped up the pieces and dropped them in the garbage can. Then she climbed back in the car and buckled up as Aaron put the car in drive and they headed home.

 

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"Hey, what are you doing?" Aaron asked as he slipped up behind Emily while she sat at the desk in their bedroom looking at some old photos and documents regarding Doyle.

"I'm just trying to figure out where he's going… what he's going to do." Emily said as she tipped her head back to look at Aaron.

"Who are they?" Aaron asked as he pointed down at the photos in her hands.

"Well you met Sean." Emily said dropping his photo onto the desk. "This is Tsia Mosley and this is Clyde Easter. I think I need to touch base with them both and find out what's going on."

Aaron nodded and then leaned down to kiss Emily. Their kiss however was disrupted by the ringing of the telephone on the bedside table.

"I'll get it." Aaron said as he pulled away from Emily and turned around and crossed the room to the nightstand and the ringing phone in three long strides. He picked the ringing phone up off of the cradle. "Hello?" he answered the phone. He paused listening for a response for a moment. "Hello?" he repeated again, but there still was no response on the other end of the line. "Hello? Is there anyone there?" He asked one last time and then hung up the phone. "Well that was strange." He said turning back to look at Emily. "There wasn't anyone there."

Emily's eyes went wide as she turned to look at her husband. "What does the caller ID say?"

Aaron lifted the phone up to look at the last caller. "Caller unknown"

Emily shot up from her seat and gather together the files she'd been looking at and grabbed hers and Aaron's go bags and sat them on the bed. "We need to get out of here."

"Emily… what?" Aaron asked as he watched her fly about their bedroom packing a few items into their go bags.

"Did you hear breathing on the other end of the line?" Emily asked as she paused from packing for a moment.

"I… yeah" Aaron replied. "Wait… you think Doyle?"

Emily nodded. "I was thinking before that if we had to stand our ground against Doyle familiar territory is the place to do it… but the more I think about it, the more I realize we can't do it here… the kids… the stairs… the elevators. We'd be sitting ducks here. We need to leave now."

"Okay" Aaron said as he reached out and wrapped his arms around Emily. "Where are we going?"

Emily sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "My parents. Since my mother's an ambassador she has a security staff… at least we know the kids would be safe..." Emily said as she looked up at Aaron. "Can you finish packing here and I'll go pack some things for Avery and Seth… at least enough for the next few days. We can always come back and get more, later."

Aaron nodded as he quickly worked to pack them clothes for the week and the toiletries they would need while Emily went upstairs to pack what Avery and Seth would need for the next few days.

 

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"Hey where are Emily and Hotch?" Morgan asked as he walked into the briefing room with his coffee cup in hand.

"I don't know. Their car wasn't here when I rode in this morning." Reid said as he tipped his head back to be able to look at Morgan as he walked past him.

"That's not like them." Penelope said. "Do you think everything is okay? Maybe I should go give them a call and get their ETA?" she asked as she uncrossed her legs and stood up from her spot at the table where she was prepared to brief the team on the freakiness that was currently going on in LA.

"Hey" Emily said as she entered the round table room just as PG was just about to exit the door.

"Hey," Morgan replied. "Somebody have a long night?"

Emily sighed and nodded. "Yeah… can we talk about it when Aaron joins us though?"

"Sure" Morgan replied with a note of concern in his voice. Then he turned and noticed that Hotch was making his way down the hallway. Morgan took his seat at the round table as he glanced around at everyone else to see if they too had noticed the weary and stressed expressions on Emily and Hotch's faces.

Hotch closed the door of the round table room and then took his seat at the round table. "There's an update on the Ian Doyle front." Hotch said in his normally stoic voice. "We had a hang up unknown caller last night that stayed on the line for over 10 seconds."

"We're staying at my parents. There are more potential emergency exits in case we need them and there's my mother's security team. I have it on good authority that she only every hires or accepts the best." Emily said attempting to make light of the situation as she smiled at her husband across the table.

"That makes sense." Reid replied. "You'd be very boxed in being on a high floor and having to deal with elevators and stair wells if anything were to happen. There's also Seth and Avery to think about."

Emily nodded. "That was exactly why we needed to get out of there."

"Well, let us know if you need anything." Elle added.

Emily nodded somberly, looking forward to being able to focus on a case, if only to get her mind off of Ian Doyle for a little while.

"Garcia?" Hotch asked with a nod of his head to redirect the team to the case at hand.

"Spin the wheel and it is sunny Los Angeles people." Garcia said as lifted the remote and turned the screen on over her shoulder.

"Two times in one year huh?" Morgan questioned as the team settled in to hear about the case.

"Remind me again why it's called the 'City of Angels'?" Rossi said in a deadpan voice.

"It was originally called the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels" Reid paused as he felt everyone's eyes on him. "That was a rhetorical question wasn't it?" he asked as he looked around at everybody.

Elle chuckled and reached over and patted Reid on the back while everyone else just shook their heads.

"This is a weird one." Penelope said as she got started.

"As opposed to?" Morgan asked.

"Ah, withhold your judgment mon amour." Penelope responded. "Okay, three women, all abducted from different parts of the city and murdered within the last couple of weeks. Shelly Onteau, 23 year old bank teller, 15 days ago; Vicki Haggarg, 39 year old art teacher, 6 days ago; Linda Dean, a 28 year hostess at a bar, 2 days ago." Penelope said as she turned to look at the photos of the three women on the screen. "All from different parts of the city, all from different socio-economic statuses." Penelope continued as she turned back to face the team.

"All three were held approximately 24 hours before being dumped in a public space." Hotch added.

"He's not hiding what he's doing." Rossi said as he leaned back in his chair and studied the screen.

"And here's one weird part." Penelope said as she looked away from the screen purposefully and clicked on the remote to bring up the next photo.

"They all look like floaters…" Emily said as she scanned the photos Penelope had brought up on the screen.

"Nn hn" Penelope nodded. "All three women were drowned."

"Wait their bodies weren't found anywhere near water?" Reid asked as he looked up from the file in his hands.

"They were drowned somewhere else and transported to the dumpsite." Hotch said as he glanced around the table at everyone.

"Penelope, you're right; this is weird." Morgan said.

"Beyond weird." Elle added as she continued looking at the photos.

"Oh, but there's more." Garcia said with a shake of her head.

"They weren't drowned in water." Hotch added.

"Methanol?" Reid questioned in a surprised tone as he read the file.

 

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"Wheels up in 30 minutes." Hotch said as he gathered his files and stood up from the round table as the team finished the briefing.

"Can I borrow your cell phone Reid?" Emily asked as she turned to look at him where he sat next to her.

"I… sure… but, why?" Reid asked as he nodded at Emily's phone lying on the table.

"Because nobody would question why you were calling your wife if they hacked your phone history." Emily replied as she held out her hand for Reid's phone. "That and I forgot to charge mine last night, so I'll have to do it on the plane." She said as she held up her dead cell phone.

"Okay" Reid said as he handed Emily his cell phone.

JJ smiled as she looked down at her ringing cell phone and saw Spence's number. "Hi baby. How's my handsome, genius, sex god of a husband this morning?"

Emily chuckled. "Sex god huh?" she asked as she glanced at Reid.

Reid promptly buried his face in his hands and shook his head as the tips of his ear begn to turn red.

Morgan did a spit take of his coffee as he gathered his things together. Elle laughed. Penelope's eyes danced gleefully. She was sooo getting details out of JJ the next time they talked. Rossi grinned and Hotch just shook his head as he exited the room.

'Oh god Spence is going to kill me' JJ thought as she managed to squeak out, "Emily? What are you doing using Spence's phone?"

"I'll let Reid explain it to you later" Emily replied sobering from the briefly lightened atmosphere. "I can't go into a ton of detail right now, like I said Reid can explain later, but would you be able to coordinate with Penelope to have cameras put up so that we can have a feed of who is around the condo? Maybe a few cameras to capture the hallway and anyone that approaches the door and maybe a few wide angle shots of the inside?"

"I… okay. I'll touch base with Pen in a little bit." JJ replied.

Emily nodded and glanced at PG. "Thanks JJ. We're wheels up in 30. Do you want to talk to the sex god?"

JJ groaned. "Please put Spence on the phone… and don't think that I am forgetting this any time soon Emily Prentiss Hotchner."

Reid took the phone from Emily as she handed it to him.

"Your wife would like to talk to you, sex god." Emily said with a smile getting one last teasing jab in before she let it drop.

Elle smirked and stood to join Emily as she walked out of the round table room.

"Tell JJ I'll talk to her in a little bit." Pen said gleefully as she and Morgan walked out of the room together.

Rossi chuckled and stood up, clapping Reid twice on the shoulder before he headed out of the room.

"Baby… I am soooo sorry. I promise I will make it up to you." JJ said apologetically as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her belly.

"It's okay babe. There are a lot worse things I could be teased for than you calling me a sex god… I can't think of what they are right now because I'm trying to think of how I'm going to fight off Morgan when he uses this as ammunition… but trust me, I can tell you from experience that there are definitely worse things to be teased about." Spence said as he leaned back in his chair. "But I don't have much time… we have to get to the jet…"

"Okay… I really am sorry baby. I'll have Penelope fill me in on everything else." JJ said as she chewed on her lip anxiously.

"I'll talk to you later and let you know what's going on." Spence said, then he paused in thought for a moment. "Shoot… my doctor's appointment…"

"Don't worry Spence, I'll take care of getting it rescheduled. I'll talk to you later. I love you baby. Be safe." JJ said.

"I love you too JJ." Spence replied with a smile on his face and then hung up the call and stood up with his files. He pocketed his cell phone as he headed down to the bullpen where Morgan stood holding his go bag out to him.

 

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"Hey Pen, it's JJ."

"Why if it isn't Mrs. Sex God." Penelope replied gleefully. "Tell me when you have to write that out, is it hyphenated or not? And more importantly, I want to hear all about just what exactly earned Reid that little nick name… come on Jayje give me the dets."

JJ groaned. "Pen you have to promise me that you guys won't tease him about it…. Seriously. And I'm not giving you any details… I'm 8 months pregnant with our third child doesn't that fill in enough details for you?"

Pen laughed. "Well when you put it that way, it does sort of paint the picture now doesn't it?"

"Pen! We have more important things to talk about… what happened with Emily and Hotch?"

"They had a hang up caller last night. Emily was shaken enough by it that they took Seth and Avery and stayed with her parents."

"So she's obviously worried that even though they can't seem to find Doyle, he's already found her."

"It would appear so." Penelope replied with a nod. "So how are we going to do this?"

JJ shrugged. "I can get the equipment easy. We'll just need to have someone help me set it up. I can't really be standing on chairs and ladders right now and the team needs you in the office… I'll call Will and see if he can help. I talk you in a little bit once I have everything lined up."

"Okay tech goddess out."

 

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"Live from Quantico VA, it is the divine Miss Penelope, Los Angeles you're our first and favorite caller, talk to me."

"Okay, woman you do know you're crazy right?" Morgan asked his wife as he walked across the LAPD precinct.

"Mm hm" Penelope nodded. "But like you always used to say, don't hate the player, hate the game."

"Okay, playa, my bad." Derek said as he stopped and sat in a window sill while he talked to Penelope. "Listen, I need you to check and see which cab companies serve the Hollywood area where Linda Dean was abducted."

"Won't even break a sweat." Penelope said as she quickly typed on her keyboard. "There are seven. Bell, Beverly Hills, Checker, City, Independent, United, and the Yellow Cab Company."

"Can you narrow that down and find out who picked up fares at Vaughn's Bar and Grill in the last 72 hours?"

"That's going to take a minute of two, but still no calls for perspiration. I shall lovingly hit you back when I have something 'kay?" Penelope said turning her head away from the screen.

"Hey, wait, baby girl were you and JJ able to get everything taken care of for Emily and Hotch?" Morgan asked.

"You know it." Penelope responded as her fingers continued to type away. "JJ was able to locate the necessary supplies and equipment. Will helped her install it just a little bit ago and we now have a live feed."

Morgan nodded. "Alright. Talk to you in a little bit… playa." Morgan grinned as he hit the end button and tucked his phone back in his pants pocket.

 

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"We suggest going public with the information as soon as possible." Hotch said as the team finished giving the profile "That he's an unregistered taxi driver and that he's had confrontations with people in the city. Thank you very much."

"You think we'll get lucky with the press release?" Elle asked as she turned to look at Hotch.

"Well it can't hurt and Dave is right. Somebody has had a run in with this guy and will remember it. Let's just hope they come forward." Hotch replied as the team stood planning their next steps.

Detective Bailey made his way through the traffic of the precinct bullpen as he headed for the BAU team. "We just got a call. We've got another body."

Hotch looked around at the team. "Alright, Dave and I will go and check out the dumpsite. Morgan, I want to you give the press conference. Reid…"

"I'm going to work with Garcia to check on the combinations of purchases and deliveries."

"The methanol and the chloroform?" Hotch asked.

Reid nodded. "And the lab equipment."

 

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"Smell is a powerful trigger for memory. He might be trying to bring back the memory of something he lost?" Reid said as he stood next to the evidence board. Then his cell phone rang in his pocket. "Excuse me." He said as he stepped away to the corner of the room to answer his phone. "Do you have something?" he asked as he looked at the caller ID and noticed that it was Garcia.

"Yeah, this wonderful and totally uncommon. I have exactly one address at which every piece of equipment you listed was delivered to." Garcia excitedly explained to Reid.

Reid tipped his head back as he listened to Garcia and then spun on his heels to face the team. "We have an address."

The team and Detective Bailey stood up from their seats and headed for the door, anxious to catch the unsub before anything happened to Anisa Gold, the young girl who'd gone missing on her way to a job interview earlier that day.

"Morgan and Elle take the back." Hotch called out as the FBI issued SUVs and police cruisers pulled up in front of the address Garcia had given them.

Everyone split up to surround the property and cover all the exits. Morgan and Elle moved along one side of the house to towards the back while Emily and Reid moved along the other side of the house. Hotch and Rossi ran up the front steps to the front door.

"He's got eyes on us." Rossi said as he looked up at camera mounted above the door.

"FBI" Hotch yelled as he banged his fist against the front door.

At the sound of a car starting, Morgan and Elle paused in their approach to the back of the house. A yellow cad sped out from the back of the house and along a separate driveway as the unsub attempted to escape. "HE'S RUNNIN'" Morgan yelled as he turned and ran back to the vehicles parked at the front of the house, followed closely by Elle.

"Reid and Emily, search the house." Hotch called out as he and Rossi headed back to the SUV to assist in the chase.

 

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Elle looked at the cab in shock as she came up behind Hotch. The cab hadn't been able to stop in time after swerving to miss a van; a trailer had been blocking one side of the road. The trailer had been at just the right height to shear off the top of the cab. Everything from the dash up on the cab had been ripped backwards in a twisted pull of metal and glass, that included the unsub who'd been driving the car. What remained was only vaguely identifiable as human due to the blood and gore. What made the scene before her ironic was the MP3 player laying on the ground playing the recording of what she assumed was the unsub's voice going on about humans only being animals pretending to be something more.

After a moment of staring in shock, the Morgan, Rossi, Elle, and finally Hotch turned and headed back to the SUVs. As disturbing as this scene was, there wasn't anything that could be done beyond documenting the scene. There was however a survivor and that was a positive. There was also a long flight home ahead of them.

 

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The team was just settling in on the jet when Morgan's cell phone rang. "Hey baby girl, we're just getting on the jet right now… okay…" he said in a confused voice. "I'll put you on speaker right now."

The team gathered round where Morgan stood in the aisle, wondering what Garcia could be calling about now that the case was over.

"Hotch, Emily… you were right to have cameras on your hallway… I have something you need to see. I'm sending it to your tablet now sir."

Emily leaned into Aaron's shoulder to look at the screen of the tablet as he held it up so that the rest of the team would also be able to see. On screen in black and white they were able to see a delivery man approach the door of their condo and knock a few times. After there was no answer, he knelt down and leaned a box against the front door.

"Do you know what was in the box?" Emily asked.

"No… I did call Will and ask him to go and pick it up, but we didn't open it." Penelope replied.

Emily took a deep breath. "Can you open it please and let me know what's in the box?" She paused, "Wait can you connect us so I can see what's in the box?"

"Absolutely" Garcia replied and mere moments later her face was on the table with her voice coming from that instead of Morgan's phone. Morgan hung up his phone and tucked it in his pocket.

"Be careful PG." Emily added as she watched her friend undo the ribbon that was wrapped around the box.

Penelope cautiously lifted the lid on the box and then moved back the paper. "Emily…" she said as she looked up at the web cam. "It's a flower… a single flower." She said as she reached into the box and pulled out the delicate purple flower and held it up to be seen. "It smells wonderful."

Emily's eyes widened. She could still remember just the way the flowers smelled as she cut them fresh that morning. She experienced a brief flashback to the day Ian Doyle was taken into custody. "It's a Lilac Freesia… I was picking them when Interpol and the local authorities showed up at Doyle's Tuscan Villa to arrest him." She said as she pulled her eyes away from the screen and looked around at the team.

A chill ran down the spines of everyone on the team as they realized just who they were dealing with. Doyle wasn't going to be like their normal unsubs. He wasn't even going to be like Foyet. For Doyle it was personal and right now he was toying with Emily, letting her know that he knew who she was and he was coming for her. He was letting her know just how far his reach was that he could get to her without even being on US soil. But what he didn't know was she had the backing of her team; a team that wouldn't; couldn't; refused to let her down; after all they were family and that was a tighter bond than he could ever purchase with blood money.


	7. Chapter 7

"Any luck tracking down where the flower came from?" Emily asked as she and Hotch walked into the lair of one Penelope Garcia-Morgan.

Penelope shook her head sadly as she looked at her friends. "I've gone over the footage more times than you can possibly imagine. There isn't a logo or an insignia on the delivery person's uniform anywhere. So then I decided to start with the other end and try to track down the flower. Lilac Freesias are apparently rather common and are a popular wedding flower, so all of the florists in the area carry it."

Emily nodded as she listened to PG.

"So I back hacked every florist in the tri-state and DC area looking for purchases of a single Lilac Freesia. There weren't any. So then I looked for all orders of bouquets of Lilac Freesia, I looked for orders that specifically requested Lilac Freesias…"

"And?" Hotch asked.

"Nothing, sir. I am so sorry that on something so important I wasn't able to uncover anything." Penelope apologized feeling horrible that at a time when it mattered most, her technological babies had failed them.

"Actually, the fact that you couldn't find anything could tell us a little bit more than you think." Emily said and then turned to look at Aaron. "Let's casually get everyone in here and fill everybody in at the same time." Emily said with a nod at Aaron.

Aaron pulled out his phone and called Dave. "Hey do you have a few minutes? Great can you grab Gideon and meet us in Garcia's office?"

Emily picked up her phone and called Elle. "Hey, Elle do you have a few minutes to talk? We're in PG's lair. Can you grab Morgan and Reid too?"

Once everyone was assembled and secured behind the keypad access only of Garcia's lair, Emily spoke. "We thought PG might have some luck tracking down either the delivery driver from the footage of the flower being delivered, or perhaps the flower itself. However, that wasn't the case."

"I completely believe" Emily continued, "that if the flowers were delivered by a legitimate delivery service or that if the flower was purchased at a florist, PG would have found it. So we have to assume that Doyle probably already has at least a small network set up in the US."

Everyone glanced around at one another, trying to work out just how bad that could mean things could get.

 

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"Why don't you both have a seat" Dr. Green said as he led Spencer and JJ into his office and sat behind his desk. "I know you both want answers about what's causing your headaches." He said as he looked at Spencer. "It's going to take some time for the results of all of the tests to come back and when they do, then I'll need to analyze the results and compare anything I find to the notes that the other doctors you've seen have made."

"How long do you expect all of that to take?" Spence asked.

"A week, possibly two, in the meantime though, I want you to start using a journal to keep track of your headaches. What were you doing when it started? When does the pain increase and lessen? What are you doing when the headaches stop? Do they happen at a certain time of day more frequently than others?" Dr. Green explained. "Documenting the details of your headaches will help us to be able to look for patterns in your headaches that could help in treating your headaches."

Spence nodded and JJ squeezed his hand.

"Do you have any questions for me?" Dr. Green asked.

"No, not right now, Dr." Spence replied.

"Alright, I'll call you to set up a time for us to get back together once I've looked at all of the results." Dr. Green said as he stood up and shook Spencer's hand.

"Thank you Dr. Green." Spence replied.

Dr. Green smiled. "You're welcome, besides, my wife told me I was to take the very best care of her favorite patient's husband or there would be dire consequences." He said with a wink. "Not that I wouldn't take great care of you anyway, but I also don't like sleeping on the couch. Plus, it looks like JJ here is seeing my lovely wife on a weekly basis now. How much longer?" he asked as he walked them to the door of his office.

"About another month; but that really just means any day now." JJ replied as she rubbed her belly.

 

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Emily sat in the bullpen looking over Ashley's shoulder and pointing something out to her in her textbook as she explained something that Ashley had questions about before the briefing started. Elle was doing the same thing for Zoe as they both had some different questions about the material that was currently being covered in their classes at the Academy.

"Excuse me, but I need to make a phone call." Emily said with a glance at her watch.

Elle glanced up from what she and Zoe were discussing in the text book and watched as Emily headed for the round table room talking on her phone.

Reid walked into the round table room and took a seat next to Emily just as she was getting off the phone with Tsia. He nodded as he heard her say 'Lauren Reynolds is dead' and then wrap up her conversation. "You want to talk about it?"

Emily sighed as she noticed the rest of the team coming down the catwalk towards the round table room. "Tsia thinks that the fact that my cover that Doyle knew me as is dead will be enough to keep Doyle from finding me or anyone else that was on the team. She made it seem like I was being paranoid… you don't think I'm being paranoid do you?"

Reid tipped his head in thought for a moment. "Emily, you had the most contact with Ian Doyle since you were the undercover agent on him. You know him the best. If something doesn't feel right to you, then you need to trust your instincts. They've served you well this far; why would you second guess yourself now?"

"Thanks Reid" Emily said with a smile, feeling better now that Reid had reassured her, although she'd feel best when this was all completely over and just a bad memory and the sooner that happened the better.

"Good morning" Rossi called out to Emily and Reid as he entered the round table room followed by Ashley Seaver, Zoe Hawkes, and the rest of the team.

"Everything okay?" Hotch asked as he glanced at Emily and noticed that she was slightly off.

"Yeah… we can talk about it later." Emily replied with a nod as Garcia's heels clicked across the floor as she entered the room.

"Hey, thank you all for coming," Penelope said as she made her way to her seat at the round table and sat down "as time is of the essence." She turned her wrist and used the remote to turn on the monitor. "Okay, Molly Grandin, 25 years old. She's been missing approximately 34 hours. Her car was found abandoned in a strip mall parking lot." She explained and then looked at Hotch.

"Syracuse Police Chief just called to tell me that four months ago another woman, Gail Langston, also 25, went missing." Hotch said as he glanced down at his notes.

"Gail's body washed up three days later in Onondaga Lake. She'd been held captive. Her hands and feet smashed and then she was stabbed to death." Penelope continued as she pulled up the photos of Gail Langston's battered body on the monitor.

"Her car was found in the same parking lot as Molly Grandin's." Hotch said.

"Other than abandoned cars, what makes them think it's the same offender?" Emily asked.

"Both women packed a bag with enough clothes and toiletries to last them for the weekend" Penelope said as she looked around the table at the team. "and in both cases the bags were found in the car along with their purses and cell phones."

"You know, if the unsub is sticking to the same MO, then Molly only has 36 hours left." Reid theorized.

"Well, let's go." Morgan said from where he stood behind Reid.

"The plane awaits." Penelope said as the team gathered up their files to head for the jet.

 

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Zoe and Ashley stood watching through the window of the interrogation room as Rossi methodically laid out the photos of Gail Langston's tortured, mutilated, and murdered body.

Zoe tipped her head, studying how Rossi remained calm and detached as he continued to lay out the photos, allowing Lyle Donaldson to ramble without stopping him. Guilty consciences often spoke. Loudly.

 

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"Today I do, tomorrow I will." Emily said as she bent over and looked at the motivational messages that were written on post it notes and stuck to Molly Grandin's bedroom mirror.

"Quite the student of the motivational gurus." Elle said as she paused as the goals posted on the door of Molly's room and then took a look around Molly's room.

"Definitely" Emily said as she turned to glance at Elle. "You see what else you can find in here. I'm going to go see what's in the other rooms."

Elle nodded and set about looking in all the usual places for anything that could tell them more about their victim, which in turn could potentially lead them to the unsub. She went through the closet, she went through the dresser drawers, and then she searched under the bed.

Emily entered the second bedroom in Molly Grandin's bedroom, expecting to find a study, a storage area, or an empty room. Instead she found an unmade bed but before she could examine further her phone rang.

"Prentiss"

"Morgan and I think we might be looking for a female offender." Reid's voice came across the phone.

"That explains why there was no sign of sexual assault." Emily said with a nod of her head. "With an unsub this obsessed with control and power, that's usually part of the territory." Emily said as she wandered around the second bedroom and looked things over.

"It looks like there was a female living in the other bedroom of Molly Grandin's apartment." Emily told Reid as she took in the state of the room and the clues that had been left behind.

"We'd have been told if she had a roommate." Reid said as he stood on the bridge with Morgan looking down at Onondaga Lake.

"Yeah, so Molly must have wanted to keep it a secret for a reason." Emily said as she walked across the room. "Whoever she was, she left recently and in a hurry." Emily said as she picked up the empty paper coffee cup and examined it, noting the lipstick marks on the rim. "I'll put a canvass out now. Thanks Reid." Emily said as she hung up the phone and headed to the other room to tell Elle.

When Emily walked back into the room, Elle was flipping through a book. "What'd you find?" Emily asked.

"A diet journal and a couple of prescriptions." Elle said as she lifted the pill bottles that had been in the box under the bed with the journal up. "Her journal is pretty intense. She kept track of everything that she put into and everything that came out of her body, and I do mean everything." Elle said as she showed Emily the section on one page where the weights of Molly's bowel movements were recorded. "How about you? Find anything?" Elle asked as she pulled out her cell phone to call Garcia.

"Reid and Morgan think that the offender is a female after seeing the dumpsite and it looks like Molly had a female guest staying with her that no one knew about."

"Sketchy" Elle said as she dialed Garcia's number.

"At best" Emily replied as she called Hotch to fill him in on what they'd found.

"Elle, my sizzling senorita, what can I do you for?" Garcia asked and then paused. "Actually from the little bit of Spanish you've been teaching me… I should be calling you senora shouldn't I?"

Elle chuckled. "As long as you're still going to baby sit Billy this weekend so that Will and I can go out for Cuban food and Salsa dancing, you can call me whatever you want." Elle said with a smile. "But right now, I actually need your fingers of fury."

"This weekend is definitely a go. I need me some baby time. So, then for what shall my fingers do the walking?" Garcia asked as she set the pen she'd been playing with off to the side.

"I need to know what Fluoxetine and Naltrexone are prescribed for. Molly has prescription bottles of both." Elle explained as she held up the bottle to read of the labels to Penelope over the phone.

"Oh… well Fluoxetine is prescribed specifically for Bulimia Nervosa… and Naltrexone is used to treat certain types of drug dependence… but wait… I just found this. It's also used with Bulimia Nervosa patients. It's intended to alleviate addictive behaviors such as the addictive drive to eat or binge eat." Garcia said as she read the information off the screen.

"Can you find out who or when the drugs were prescribed to her?" Elle asked.

"Mm, sadly no. That would fall under HIPA. Unless their families agree to open their files, since they're the victims and not the unsub, I can't hack them. I'll get ahold of Hotch and Rossi and have them talk to the families. It'll take me some time, but I'm guessing you want me to take a look at Gail Langston's medical records too?" Penelope asked.

"You're the best Pen" Elle said with a laugh.

"Word. Tech goddess out." Penelope said as she hung up the phone and then quickly dialed Hotch to let him know what she needed.

"Time to talk to the neighbors" Emily said as Elle hung up the phone and put everything back in the box to go back to the precinct with them as evidence.

 

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The team sat around the table at the precinct listening to Garcia as she gave them the run down on Gail and Molly's medical histories and their financials, which she had accessed while waiting for the medical files to be released.

"Carrots and hot sauce" Ashley said as Garcia explained what she found when looking through the victim's financials over the few months prior to their disappearance.

Emily and Zoe both turned and gave Ashley a strange look.

"Then it changes about three months ago. She got a membership at a yoga studio and started paying for cooking classes."

"That matches up almost exactly with when this journal cuts off ten weeks ago." Elle said as she looked at the last entry in the journal.

"So they both went to the same hospital, but for different programs and at different times." Garcia explained as she looked at Gail and Molly's medical records on her screen.

"Maybe it's someone who works at the hospital?" Ashley asked.

Elle shook her head. "No, if our unsub conned her way into a job they probably wouldn't have lasted long enough to be able to have accessed patient files."

"Yeah, we were off in our profile." Reid said as he leaned forward on the table. "She doesn't find her victims by chance like we thought. She hunts them."

"Garcia does Syracuse General keep their surveillance footage of the entrances and exits?" Emily asked.

"Oh in this age of black market pharmaceutical drug trade you betcha. I can get you that." Garcia said and then hung up.

Hotch nodded as he stood with his arms crossed. "Garcia let us know as soon as you find anything."

"Of course sir; ta for now." Garcia said as she hung up the phone.

The rest of the team nodded and then they began discussing the case, the profile, and anything else that they might have missed.

 

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A short while later, Garcia called back and walked the team through the surveillance footage she'd found showing both Gail Langston and Molly Grandin being stalked by the same woman.

"So she stalks them, copies them, and then uses it to strike up a conversation." Reid said as the team huddled around the computer monitor watching the stalker and Molly Grandin walk out of the hospital together, presumably discussing their matching purses.

"And here is a nice clean one of our stalker lady person." Garcia said as she pulled up a frame of security footage of the stalker walking past the security camera alone.

"Okay, now can you blow that up and print it?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing it as we speak." Penelope replied.

 

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"Hotch, we've got a name and an address. Jane Gould. The house is in Maple Bay where Gail Langston's body was found and she's our stalker from the hospital." Morgan explained as he grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "Penelope was able to narrow it down on the list we got from Dr. Weingold."

 

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"Thanks Garcia" Reid said as hung up his phone and put it in his pocket. Then he spoke with Elle, Emily, and Morgan who were in the SUV with him and through the speakerphone to Rossi, Hotch, Zoe, and Ashley who were back at the precinct. "Dr. Weingold opened Jane's file. She can't release any details, but there honestly aren't many. Jane never admitted to being a cutter, let alone what triggered it."

"She started acting out after she lost her grandparents." Rossi said thoughtfully.

"Arrested for vandalism, removed from two foster homes for destruction of property, desperate attempts to get attention." Hotch said as he looked down at Jane Gould juvenile file that Garcia had unsealed.

"Is that why she started cutting?" Emily asked "Another cry for help?"

"Cutting is about control." Seaver said as she turned to look at Hotch and Rossi. "Similar to anorexia and bulimia, it's common in teenage girls who feel like they have no control over their lives."

"Her grandparents' deaths were probably the trigger." Hotch theorized.

"Loss of parental figures at such a young age turns your world upside down." Ashley added her voice breaking slightly. "There's a lot of pain, but no outlet. No one's in charge."

Zoe once again took in the somewhat strange comments coming from her fellow cadet and stored them away to be pondered later.

Rossi cast a brief sidelong glance at Ashley. He'd always wondered what had happened to her after he and Hotch had taken her father away in hand cuffs and based on what he'd heard so far in the course of this case, it sounded like she'd spiraled out of control.

"Both Molly and Gail can relate to that." Rossi replied as he looked back down at the phone.

"Jane used them to convince herself she's important." Emily said as she glanced at Morgan and Elle.

"And when they didn't need her anymore, she had to destroy them." Elle added.

"Let's just hope we get there in time." Morgan said as he pressed down harder on the accelerator.

 

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As the BAU agents and the local officers arrived, they approached the road leading to the house slowly with their lights off, not wanting to tip off Gould that they were there and possible cause her to kill Molly. They parked on the road, blocking not only through traffic, but also any vehicle that might attempt to leave the area.

The Morgan, Emily, Reid, and Elle and the officers took moments to wire themselves with coms and pull on their bullet proof vests. After a brief discussion between Hotch and the Syracuse Police Chief over the coms, the BAU Agents led officers as they approached Jane Gould's house from all sides, sweeping the area while another group of Syracuse officers created a perimeter.

All plans for a quiet approach however, were thrown out as the sound of a horrific female scream of pain and agony wrenched its way through the night air. Morgan's leg lifted in a well-practiced move as he kicked in the door of the house.

A shocked Jane Gould paused on the stairwell with a large bloody hammer in her hand as she came down the stairs.

"Put down the hammer." Morgan shouted as he raised his gun to cover Jane Gould.

Knowing that most older houses had back stairwells, Reid took a look at the architecture of the house, trying to determine if this house did. "I need this door open." Reid said patting the door.

Elle gave him a puzzled look as to ask if he expected her to kick in the door. Then she nodded at him in understanding as an officer stepped up.

"You got it sir." The officer said and with a solid kick, the door opened.

Elle and Reid led the way in the door and after a few moments, Reid located the back stairwell. He crept up it and nodded for Elle to clear one end of the hallway while he cleared the other.

Elle discovered the locked door, and after unlocking it, discovered Molly Grandin, in a great deal of pain, but alive, on the other side.

"I'd recommend you do what Agent Morgan said and put down the hammer Jane." Reid said as he stood behind Jane with the high ground on his side where he stood at the top of the staircase.

Completely surrounded, Jane had no option, but to drop the hammer and surrender.

 

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Spence was so exhausted by the time the team arrived back at their hotel; that he couldn't help but fall face first onto the bed after removing his tie and kicking off his shoes. He'd dropped his sports coat across the back of the chair his go bag sat on upon entering the room. Exhaustion overtook him and he slept.

 

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The next morning after wrapping up the loose ends of the case, the team boarded the jet and was DC bound.

Zoe sat contemplatively looking at Ashley as they sat together relaxing at the back of the jet for a bit before they had to hit the books and the field training classes back at the Academy again. "Hey Ashley?" she said to get Ashley's attention.

"Yeah?" Ashley said as she lowered the textbook she'd been looking at. "What is it?"

"Well, I just… I noticed you made some strange observations during the case… and well…" Zoe trailed off, not sure how to bring up her suspicions that the reason Ashley had insight into eating disorders and cutting was because she'd done it herself.

"You're wondering how I knew what I did?" Ashley asked.

"No" Zoe shook her head. "I'm pretty sure I know why you knew what you did. I just wanted to say that if you need someone to talk to or something…" Zoe looked at Ashley in concern.

Ashley raised her eyebrows. She'd never made friends easily. Perhaps it came from keeping people at arms-length, lest they find out her secret. "I um… thanks. You know, the rest of the team already knows this… so you should too." Ashley said as she tucked her textbook away in her bag and then turned in her seat to look at Zoe. "Have you ever heard of the Redmond Ripper?"

 

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The team stepped off the plane and was just preparing to head back to the BAU when Emily's phone rang and she paused as she looked down at the caller ID. The rest of the team paused and grouped around her as she answered the phone.

"Tsia?" Emily asked as she glanced up at Hotch in confusion and concern.

"He's gone."

"W... wh… who?" Emily asked confused about who Tsia was talking about. "What's going on?"

"Jeremy's dead." Tsia replied in a shocked voice as she held back tears for her fiancé.

"What?"

"I got home from work and he was just lying there. He…he'd been in the shower…I don't know, I couldn't see anything. They think it was a clot."

"He's not even forty, how," Emily paused briefly as someone walked past her, "how could…"

"He didn't have a pulse. I called the ambulance. They tried to revive him, but…"

"Did somebody break in?" Emily asked.

Tsia breathing rushed as she got more worked up while talking to Emily. "Uhg… I don't think so. L… l… look he… he was out for his run. He's training for a marathon."

That caused Emily to pause in her thoughts. "Was it his usual path?"

"Yes, but he came back early. He… he called me. He said he wasn't feeling well." Tsia explained.

"Did he fall down on the path? Did anyone run into him?"

"Oh god" Tsia whispered.

"How long have we been talking?" Emily asked and then pulled her phone away from her face to look at the call time. She put the phone back to her ear. "You've got to get out of there. Get a flight. Leave France. Get back to America. Cash transactions only from here on out. Am I clear?"

"It's him isn't it?" Tsia asked. "It's Doyle."

"Toss that cell phone and get home safely." Emily responded and then hung up the phone. She immediately dialed a familiar number.

"Jareau" JJ said as she picked up her phone.

"JJ, its Emily. We've got a problem. Tsia just called me. Jeremy is dead… in order for him to have already gotten to Jeremy is quickly, he'd have to have someone on the inside."

JJ sat up straight in her seat and started gathering files together. "I'm on it Emily. I'll call Garcia and have her run a background checks on everyone and I'll get everyone's files pulled who had access… don't worry, we'll figure this out."

"I know." Emily nodded as she looked around at the team. "We have to… there's too much at stake not to."


	8. Chapter 8

"Did you have it done?" Emily asked Aaron as they stood in PG's office with Penelope waiting for the rest of the team to join them.

Aaron nodded. "Last night. We're clear in here. My office and the round table room..." Hotch said with a shake of his head. "I had them left in place like you recommended so we don't tip anyone off that we're on to them. It's probably best not to have the bullpen swept. It could cause suspicion and if you're right then we'll be right back where we started."

Penelope's head moved back and forth between Hotch and Emily. "Can you please tell me what's going on so I can at least try to follow your conversation?"

"After I called JJ yesterday and you and she started running everyone's backgrounds, I received an anonymous text saying 'See you soon'. Aaron and I talked. If Doyle has an inside man, then he could already have someone in place here as well… Aaron had a team sweep for bugs after hours so as to avoid suspicion."

Penelope's eyes widened with horror. "But… but…"

Emily nodded her head. "I know; it bothers me to think that someone who has access to our team could be spying on us too… but we have to be sure." She said as Morgan, Reid, Dave, and Elle filed into the room.

"Sure about what?" Morgan asked as he looked at Emily and Hotch and closed the door.

Hotch glanced at Emily who nodded and pulled out a signal jammer, erring on the side of supreme caution in case anything had been missed. "Last night after Emily's calls with Tsia and JJ I had my office and the round table room swept for bugs. Listening devices were discovered in both locations. I also had Penelope's office swept as well. It was clean, but to be safe we are going to go meet in the SCIF. We'll fill everyone in down there. Make it appear like we are going down for nothing more than a briefing on sensitive materials. We have people waiting on us so we need to hurry, but let's not all head down there together. Make sure to secure your phones and iPads in your desks."

The team casually headed down to the Secure Compartmented Information Facility in small groups as if they were going to a scheduled meeting on a case involving sensitive information that needed to remain secure.

As Hotch and Emily entered the SCIF they took note of the back of the familiar blonde head sitting at the head of the table with her back to the door.

Hotch stood at the door waiting for the rest of the team to join them before he locked and sealed the door, while Emily headed over to their friend.

JJ stood up from her seat at the head of the table, which just happened to be the only seat that could accommodate her with the space she needed for her very pregnant belly.

"Did you…" Emily trailed off realizing that she really couldn't and shouldn't ask the question until the rest of the team was there and the SCIF door was secured.

JJ, however, knowing Emily for as long and as well as she had, knew what Emily was going to ask. "Yes… you remember Jamie from the Christmas party?" JJ asked as she reintroduced Jamie and Emily on a bit more formal terms.

"It's nice to see you again." Emily said as she leaned forward and shook Jamie's hand.

"I wish it was under better circumstances." Jamie replied.

"Hey" Reid said as he stepped up beside his wife and rested his hand on the small of her back.

"Hi" JJ said as she glanced up at Spence.

The rest of the team filtered into the SCIF over the next several moments. Once everyone was present, Hotch closed the SCIF door and locked out the other access codes so that the team would not be interrupted and no one else could access the SCIF until they left.

Penelope glanced around the table as JJ passed a stack of manila file folders down both sides of the table. "Wouldn't it have been easier to use everyone's iPads?" she asked.

"Only pre-approved electronic devices are allowed in the SCIF. This was short notice, so I didn't have time to get the clearance. That's why I didn't ask you to bring your laptop and everyone else left their cellphones and iPads secured in their desks." Hotch explained.

Zoe and Ashley sat looking around curious as to what could be going on.

Hotch took note of the two cadets curious expressions and realized they needed to be brought up to speed before JJ briefed them on what had been discovered. "Ashley, Zoe, I wish I could tell you that this was merely a training exercise to familiarize you with the SCIF, but I can't. We have a sensitive situation that's been developing over the course of the last few weeks. We need you both to be informed for the sake of your own safety as well as so that you can assist with the case." He said and turned to glance at Emily.

Emily filled them both in on everything she'd already shared with the team after receiving a nod from JJ letting her know that they'd cleared the background check that had been run on them. "… which brings us to last night when I called JJ." Emily said as she turned to look at JJ.

JJ nodded and cleared her throat. "We went through everything, and I mean everything. Garcia ran background checks on everyone who was part of JTF-12. We looked at financials…" JJ paused to take a deep breath, knowing how much it was going to hurt Emily to find out that someone see thought was a friend had sold her out to the devil himself. "Jeremy bought an estate in Spain and signed all of the documents with one of his covers. He made a down payment in cash… and then he made a large cash deposit." She said as she turned to look at Emily.

Emily nodded. She'd been expecting someone on the team had sold them all out, she just wasn't sure who. "Tsia?"

"Our best guess is that she didn't know gumdrop. She didn't cash in any of her investments. If I were getting ready to run from a terrorist, I'd want as many funds available as possible." Penelope piped up.

"Wait; isn't Jeremy Wolfe the person you said died just yesterday?" Zoe asked as she looked around at the team.

JJ nodded. "And he was killed quietly. Doyle doesn't want any attention until he's ready."

Emily nodded. "That fits with his profile. He is meticulous. Knowing him, he has everything planned down to the last detail."

"Tsia is already on her way here. What about the rest of the team?" Hotch asked.

"Knowing Clyde, he's probably on his way here also. Sean will be with his family in Brussels." Emily replied.

"Can you make contact and get them both here if they aren't already on their way? We'll need all the help and expertise we can get in dealing with someone like Doyle." Rossi said.

Emily nodded. "I'll make the call as soon as we're done here."

"There's one last thing." Hotch replied. "We potentially have a mole ourselves. My office and the round table room were bugged. Penelope's office was clean."

"What does that mean?" Ashley asked.

"That somebody is listening and that Doyle could have some very powerful friends if he was able to somehow get listening devices into an FBI federal building housed on a military base." Rossi said with some concern as he looked around at the team, JJ, and Jamie.

 

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JJ and Jamie were walking out to their car in the parking garage when they ran into Anderson. Well, Anderson ran into Jamie actually and spilled his coffee all over her.

"Oh man I am sooo…. Jamie?" Anderson asked as he looked up from the coffee that he'd spilt all over her.

"Chad?" Jamie asked as she looked at Anderson. "What are you doing here? I mean I know you work here… but I wasn't really expecting to run into you today."

"I just went out to get coffee. Real coffee, not the crappy coffee we have here…. And gosh... I am so sorry Jamie. Let me at least pay for the dry cleaning… or replace it if the stain doesn't come out." He said wincing slightly at the growing coffee stain on Jamie's front.

"It was an accident. Don't worry about it." Jamie said as she glanced down at her blouse. "and luckily I have a different shirt in my bag at work. We should probably get going…. It was good seeing you again Chad." Jamie said and then glanced over to her highly amused boss and friend.

"So…" JJ said as they climbed in the car to head back to the Pentagon. "How well exactly do you know Anderson?" she asked with an amused grin on her face.

"Well, we uh… met at your Christmas party." Jamie explained.

"Uh huh" JJ nodded remembering having seen them speaking throughout the evening.

"And we went on a few dates."

"And?" JJ asked hoping that she was about to hear good news.

"But it didn't work out. Don't get me wrong, Chad's a great guy… just not the guy for me… you know?"

JJ nodded. "I do. So when we get back let's…" JJ said wisely changing the conversation back to work. There was a lot to do and who knew how long they'd have before Doyle made his presence in DC known, and whenever that happened, they needed to be ready for him.

 

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JJ sighed in relief as she leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

"Tired?" Spence asked he walked in the room from checking the locks and the security system.

"Yes" JJ replied. "of being pregnant." She said as she turned to look at her husband.

Spence chuckled. "And you want to do this again in a few years to see if we can have another girl?"

JJ smacked Spence on the arm as he climbed into bed next to her. "Chloe and Henry were both here by this time." She moaned as she shifted trying to get comfortable.

"Chloe and Henry were both three weeks early." Spence replied and leaned down and kissed his wife. "Come on, scoot forward and let me sit behind you." he said as he rubbed JJ's shoulder comfortingly. "Maybe a backrub will help."

JJ scooted forward and Spence slipped behind her, his fingers and thumbs rubbing over her weary lower back.

"God that feels good baby." JJ moaned as she leaned back against Spence. She tipped her head and placed a soft kiss on his neck. "How do you think Emily and Hotch are holding up really?"

Spence leaned his head against JJ's as he continued to rub. "Honestly, I'm sure they have to be terrified out of their minds… I know I would be if it was us. I'm terrified for them. But they're right, we need to keep things looking as normal as possible while we find Doyle."

JJ nodded her head as she tried to imagine what it was like for Emily and Hotch.

 

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"Derek" Penelope said as she looked up at her husband.

"Yeah baby girl?" Morgan replied as he looked down at Penelope.

"Everything is going to be okay, right? We're going to fix this right?" Pen asked as she agonized over how terrifying things had to be for Emily and Hotch right now.

"I hope so baby girl," He said as he leaned down and kissed Penelope on the forehead. "I hope so."

 

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"What can I do to help?" Will asked as Elle finished telling him the new developments in the situation where she was snuggled into his side. "Whatever I can do to help I will."

Elle nodded where she was curled up against Will's side. "I don't know… There isn't a plan yet…"

 

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"David, are you all right? You've been really quiet tonight." Erin asked as she walked into David's study.

"Yeah" Dave said as continued to stare at his untouched glass of scotch on his desk.

"Are you sure about that?" Erin asked as she slipped behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, and leaned down to kiss him softly just below his ear.

"No" Dave replied as he raised his hand and held onto Erin's arms wrapped across his chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.

Dave nodded his head and pulled on Erin's arm, pulling her around to sit in his lap and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened. She needed to be aware in case things went bad. He also needed to know in case she heard things from other parts of the Bureau. She might not be a Section Chief any longer, but he knew she still had her ear to the ground.

 

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"Aaron?" Emily asked as she curled up tighter in his arms.

"Yeah Em?" Aaron replied.

"I'm scared." Emily admitted out loud for the first time in her life.

Aaron nodded. "I am too, but we've done everything we can for right now. We'll get more information as soon as we can… and then we'll put a plan together."

"And in the meantime we sleep with loaded guns under our pillows?" Emily asked.

Aaron nodded. "Just remind me not to piss you off in the middle of the night." He said in an attempt at dark humor. "We'll get through this Em… you'll see."

Emily nodded. "I know we will, but I'd be less scared if it was just me. I'd know how to cope if it was just me. I can't lose any of you. My greatest fear is that Doyle's punishment will be to make me watch him kill everyone I love off one by one before he finally finishes me off."

Aaron nodded and wrapped his arms more tightly around Emily and rubbed her back as he kissed her forehead. He was terrified to admit that was his greatest fear as well.

 

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Emily placed her hand on Aaron's arm as they walked towards the car. Yes, her parents lived in a gated community, but she'd never known that to stop Doyle before. She peeked in and noted that the car was still locked. She quickly knelt down and checked underneath the car, looking for anything that looked out of place. Then she grabbed Aaron's hand and backed a good distance away from the car and used the remote starter.

Aaron turned to look at her for a moment as he realized just how rattled this Doyle situation had his wife. He took her hand and squeezed it and then they climbed into the car and headed for the BAU. They had a busy day ahead. Who knew what would happen in terms of cases and Emily had a meeting set up with Tsia, Clyde, and Sean.

 

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Emily quickly crossed the busy plaza, full of people enjoying the early afternoon, to the predetermined meeting spot. She sat on the stone bench and pulled the disposable cell phone out of the abandoned newspaper just as it began to ring.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming" Tsia said into the phone as she saw Emily pick the phone up from several feet away in the plaza. "After what happened with Jeremy, I was afraid."

"Tsia, I'm sorry you can't be at his funeral. Its today; isn't it?" Emily asked, making a point not to glance over at where Tsia sat at a table off to her right and dying a little inside at how hurt her friend was going to be to find out the truth about the man she had been in love with.

"Well, that's the problem with marrying a member from your own team, if one of you is a target, so is the other. I get it." Tsia replied managing to keep her emotions in check.

It killed Emily to have Tsia find out like this, but the sooner that it was said; the sooner they could focus on finding Doyle. "Tsia, there's something you need to know."

"Emily?" Tsia asked.

"Jeremy is the one who sold us out to Doyle." Emily replied.

"No" Tsia said in a harsh but low voice so as not to attract the attention of the crowds surrounding them at the moment. "He couldn't… he wouldn't do that."

"I'm so sorry Tsia… but after you called me… I checked backgrounds and financials on everyone. He bought an estate in Spain. He signed the papers in one of his aliases." Emily explained softly. "And assuming that Jeremy sold everyone out, anyone that worked Doyle's case is compromised. Sean?"

Tsia gasped into the phone as she worked to compartmentalize and pull herself together. Like she had said, there were dangers in falling in love with and marrying someone from your team.

"Colleen and Kyla are safe at the embassy. That's where they will be staying until this is over." Sean replied.

"Good" Emily nodded.

"Hello darling" Clyde interjected himself into the conversation.

Emily shook her head at the fact that Clyde never seemed to stop flirting. Ever. It was like dealing with a British version of Morgan before he settled down with Penelope. "Alright, let's make this quick. I took a late lunch." Emily said moving the conversation along.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not quick about anything?" Clyde replied in his British accent.

Emily raised her eyebrow at Clyde's cockiness. "I don't know" she said drawing out her response as she pursed her lips in thought. "What about that time I blew my cover in Prague? You took out that sentry before I could even draw my weapon. Saved my ass Clyde."

"I'm surprised you remember the little people from your Interpol days now that you're a posh FBI profiler." Clyde said.

"What's being done to locate Doyle?" Emily asked bringing the conversation back to the business at hand.

"Only every agency in the northern hemisphere is looking for him." Clyde said as he continued to casually look around the plaza for anything that was out of place.

"What are we doing to find him?" Emily asked brusquely.

"My contact at DCRI tracked one of Doyle's aliases leaving France the day after Jeremy's murder. He took a commercial flight to Beijing then doubled back on a train bound for Berlin." Tsia explained, having managed to pull herself back together. She glanced about, keeping aware of their surroundings while she consciously used all of her training to hold herself together. She could fall apart over Jeremy after they'd stopped Doyle. Her preference would a bullet between the Irish terrorist's eyes.

Clyde glanced behind him as he felt someone move past him. "But when GSG9 intercepted it, he was already gone."

"He sent me flowers. I think it's safe to assume he's coming here."

"I have to say you're probably right." Sean added as he glanced about.

"Why is he doing this?" Tsia asked.

"Why do you think? We put him away." Clyde replied as if stating the obvious.

Emily paused, about to reply when her cell phone went off in her pocket, signaling that she had a text message. She fished into her suit jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. '911… Case BAU ASAP'.

"Duty calls?" Clyde asked.

Emily paused as she looked down at the message on her phone.

"I know what you're thinking. Absolutely not. Your team isn't under oath. They don't have clearance." Clyde chastised.

"Too late Clyde. They already know. In fact it was because of them that we were able to figure out that it was Jeremy." Emily replied as she tucked her cell phone back into her pocket.

Clyde cursed under his breath.

"This could be a good thing." Sean interjected after having heard what everyone else had to say so far.

"How? We don't even know where Doyle is." Tsia said, her eyes darting about as she watched the crowd.

"Well we need whatever intel we can get. Your team is obviously very good at what they do and loyal to you. That is something we can't necessarily guarantee with anyone else. We also need the manpower in order to get ahead of Doyle." Sean said as he glanced about from his position on the far side of Clyde.

Clyde sighed. He might not agree with it, but he could certainly see how it could be an advantage. What was done; was done. "Leave it to Tsia, Sean, and I. You go be with your team." Clyde advised.

"Even in hiding Doyle can't resist extravagance. Track the money." Emily replied, adding her insight into Doyle.

"I will find him darling." Clyde reassured Emily. "Trust me."

"There are very few people I trust anyone anymore." Emily said as she stood up from her bench and tossed the cell phone she'd been speaking into in the nearby garbage can.

Emily ditching the disposable cell and leaving the plaza was followed immediately by Tsia, Sean, and Clyde doing the same.

 

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"Traffic, I'm sorry." Emily explained as she quickly strode into the round table room and took the open seat next to Reid but nodded at Hotch and the team as they looked at her, letting them know that yes, she had met with Sean, Clyde, and Tsia as planned.

"Let's get started." Hotch said to the team in general as he nodded, acknowledging that he understood Emily's message.

"Ten year old Sammy Sparks of Lafayette Parish Louisiana showed up at his elementary school this morning covered in blood. When police got to his house, they found that his parents Charlie and Allison Sparks were missing." Penelope said from where she stood next to the monitor as she used the remote to cue the correct photos.

"Well forensics indicates at least one of them was injured," Morgan said as he looked back down at his iPad. "and by the looks of it, it was pretty severely."

"Has there been a ransom demand?" Emily asked.

"There's been no communication whatsoever." Garcia replied, gesturing with her hands and the remote.

"Then why call in the BAU?" Rossi asked.

"New Orleans is hoping that we can interview Sammy." Hotch explained.

"No one's talked to the witness yet?" Reid asked, confused.

"I don't understand. If Sammy was covered with blood, there's a good chance he can identify the unsub." Ashley said as she looked at Hotch.

"Sammy's autistic. Getting him to tell us what happened isn't going to be easy." Hotch explained.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Looks like they were open to alternative methods of payment." Emily said as she flipped through the ledger at the Sparks' music store. "There's some construction work for a child's drum set, and cleaning services for sheet music."

"Bartering must be popular in a cash strapped area like this." Ashley said as she leaned against the counter. "They have video surveillance, which is good news. Do you think the unsub was here?"

"It's possible" Emily replied. "These guys like to scout their targets prior to abduction. They get off on the fact their victims never see them coming."

"There's a lot they don't teach us at the Academy." Ashley said as she looked at the screen of the laptop where the footage from the security camera was playing.

"Experience handles the rest." Emily responded just as Elle and Zoe walked up to the counter from looking over the back of the store. "Did you guys find anything?" Emily said as she turned to look at them while Ashley pulled the tape of the security footage out to send to Garcia.

 

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"Well the kid definitely likes to draw." Morgan said as he held up a picture and showed Hotch. "Dog?" he asked as he turned to look at Hotch.

Hotch smiled at the familiarity of children's artwork. "I agree; that is definitely a dog. So I take it Jake has started to draw?" he asked as he turned and headed across Sammy's room to see what else they could find that would help them with the case.

 

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"How do you do it?" Zoe asked as she, Emily, Elle, and Ashley stood discussing how Sammy had most likely been a recognizable fixture in the community.

"Do what?" Emily asked.

"How are you not going crazy right now? How are you able to stay focused on this case with everything that's going on in your personal life?" Zoe asked.

Emily paused for a moment in thought as she looked at Zoe.

"I… I'm sorry. That was out of line… I shouldn't have asked." Zoe said nervously attempting to retract her question.

"No, no… it's okay." Emily replied. "I was just thinking… JJ asked me the same thing once when I first joined the team… its part of the training that I went through I suppose. But it's also because I have to. I can't afford to breakdown. I can't afford to not be on the top of my game. Right now the Sparks need us to find them and then we have to find Doyle. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done. There will be more than enough time to think about it or not think about it once it's over."

Zoe nodded in understanding of what Emily was saying. Worrying about what might happen served no purpose. All you could control was the here and now and until you had more information you had to let tomorrow take care of itself.

 

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"So the shop owner gave Allison Sparks twenty five grand." Emily said as she, Elle, Ashley and Zoe walked out of the check cashing shop.

"She wanted thirty but the owner balked." Ashley added.

"So she'd got twenty five from here, ten from the bank, he's up to thirty five, but he wants forty. Why is that the special number?" Emily asked Morgan as they walked along the side street.

"We should call Penelope and have her run those numbers against the list she compiled of local residents in foreclosure." Morgan said as he turned to look at Emily and Ashley. "See if anything matches up."

Emily held up her ringing phone, showing Morgan and Elle that it was Clyde. "I need to take this."

"I'll call Pen" Elle said as she stepped away to talk to Garcia.

"Look at that" Morgan said with a nod of his head at Zoe and Ashley when something under the dumpster caught his eye. He bent down and used a pair of gloves to pick up the crow bar from the asphalt just under the dumpster.

"Well, what do you make of that?" Morgan asked.

"It looks like it was used as a weapon." Ashley said.

"I bet this belongs to our guy." Morgan said as he examined the crow bar.

"How can you tell?" Zoe asked as she looked the crow bar in Morgan's hand.

"See how it's rusted at the hook end?" Morgan asked.

"Okay?" Zoe replied confused how that would explain the crow bar belonging to the unsub.

"It's an old fisherman's trick. You can use it to hook crab traps and shrimp catches out at sea." He explained.

Ashley shook her head. "It's probably pretty common around here."

"Yeah, but outside the same store where Allison Sparks was last seen?" Morgan asked. "Our unsub is definitely a fisherman."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emily walked to the end of the side street where she'd been talking with Morgan, Ashley, Elle, and Zoe outside of the check cashing shop so as not to distract them from discussing the case when Clyde's number came up on her caller ID.

"We found him." Clyde said into the phone.

"Where?" Emily asked.

He's headed for DC. We'll meet you there." Clyde replied, trying to avoid giving out too many details over the phone.

"Are we sure it's him?" Emily asked as she stood looking back down the street.

"It's Doyle alright. We're looking at him right now." Clyde spoke into the phone as he looked down at the video of Doyle stepping off the private jet and onto US soil. "He chartered a private jet."

"How did he get past security checks?" Emily asked.

"He used an alias. Chuck Murray." Tsia said from the backseat of the car.

"Isn't that?" Emily trailed off.

"The name of his Irish wolfhound." Sean replied.

"He's baiting us. He wants us to know he's here." Emily said into the phone.

"Message received." Tsia said as she looked into the front seat at Clyde and Sean.

"Let that bastard come to us." Clyde replied and then hung up the phone. He turned and grabbed a gun and clip from the case in the backseat. As he turned back to face front, he slid the clip into the gun.

Sean in turn pulled out the gun in his shoulder harness and checked it.

 

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"Sammy would it be alright if I sat here?" Reid asked as he sat down next to Sammy on the piano bench. He paused for a moment and then played scales on the piano.

Sammy's response was playing the scales just a few octaves lower.

"Whoa, you've been holding out on me Sammy." Reid replied with a smile.

Rossi watched the team's young genius seated at the piano with Sammy and had to smile as watched him interact with Sammy.

"Sammy, how about you play this note for yes" Reid said as he played a note on the piano "and this note for no" he said as he played a distinctively different note. "Does that sound like something you could do?"

Sammy glanced off in the other direction as he played the note for yes.

"Yeah, exactly. Just like that." Reid replied encouragingly. "Now, Sammy… do you remember when the man came and took your parents away?" Reid asked in a soft spoken voice.

Sammy blinked and hit the key for yes. Then he hit the key for yes several times in quick succession. Then he began to play a beautifully melodic piece of music.

"Sammy, I don't understand. Does this piece of music mean something to you?" Reid asked.

Sammy paused in playing and reached over setting his hand on top of Reid's. Then he lifted it and set it on the piano in the appropriate spot for Reid to be able to mirror the piece of music that Sammy had been playing, just a couple of octaves lower than what Sammy had played.

Reid watched as Sammy began to play at first, and then joined in, their keystrokes mirroring each other's as they played the piano together.

 

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"I have run 'L' for Lizzie and nothing suspicious. Her story checks out." Penelope explained.

"And the local financial records?" Elle asked.

"Ha… I have referenced every former and currently licensed fishermen, crab men, shrimp men, friends of Poseidon, comes from the sea you name it men with financial records showing default loans totaling over thirty five k."

"Okay, what did you find?" Ashley asked.

"A hundred and twenty seven names." Penelope replied as she dashed for her chair, knowing that the team would be able to help narrow the list down. "I know, do not shoot the messenger. Just tell me how to narrow it down."

"Do all one hundred and twenty seven have children?" Emily asked as she leaned forward towards the speaker phone.

"No, but seventy six do."

"Okay, how many have homes in foreclosure versus other debt that might not put them out onto the street?" Ashley asked.

"ehhhh…. Oh you are very good. We are officially down to twenty four." Penelope replied.

"Wait… what if it was something else besides just the foreclosure that was his trigger?" Zoe asked.

"What are you thinking?" Elle asked.

"Well foreclosure takes months… so why now? What was it about now that caused him to abduct the Sparks?" Zoe asked.

"Well the Sparks just got their loan." Ashley replied.

"Sure… but the oil spill was almost a year ago so there would have been at least a few other opportunities before now." Zoe explained.

Elle nodded. "Okay so say there was something that happened recently that acted as the stressor above and beyond the foreclosure. What would it have been?"

"Okay… well his main source of income is cut off because of the oil spill since he's a fisherman… but he has bills he needs to pay so he takes any job he can get…" Zoe said.

Emily nodded. "But it doesn't quite cover the bills."

"He's struggling to make ends meet." Ashley said.

"He has to pick and choose what bills to pay and still try and put food on the table." Elle said as she nodded.

"The bills are slipping… he's underwater on his mortgage… wondering how he's going to get caught back up again but he's holding it together. Why is he still holding it together?" Ashley asked she looked around the table at Elle, Emily, and Zoe.

"Because of his family" Zoe, Emily, and Elle answered in unison.

"Did any of the twenty four people you have listed experience dramatic changes to their families in the last month?" Elle asked.

"Let's see… oh this is sad. We still have a list of six." Penelope responded.

"Better send us the files PG." Emily said.

"In two shakes of a chocolate Easter bunny's tail." Penelope replied.

 

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"Hey Sammy, it's almost 3 o'clock. Is there some place you should be?" Reid asked as he showed Sammy his watch.

"Should be store" Sammy said as he traced the hands of Reid's watch. He stood up from his seat on the piano bench, sat his wooden train on top of the piano, and then walked towards the front door.

His Aunt Lizzie made as if to grab him and stop him.

"No, no, let him go." Rossi said as he pulled out his phone and called Hotch as Reid followed Sammy out the door of the house.

 

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Reid stood half smiling as he watched Sammy comfort his crying mother. The bond between mother and child was a powerful one and he was sure that with a mother as determined as Sammy's that Sammy was going to have every opportunity to connect with the world around him and live a full life. A bright and gifted mind deserved to be given every opportunity to shine.

 

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Penelope walked up to Derek's desk in the bullpen holding Jake's hand in one hand and her red peep toe sling back pumps, a DVD, and a large bowl of popcorn in the other hand. She smiled at Morgan as his lifted his head from his paperwork to look at her.

Morgan smiled and tossed his pencil up in the air as he saw his wife and son.

Jake laughed and then ran towards his Daddy calling out. "Dada"

"Hey there's my main man!" Derek said as he stood up from his desk. He caught Jake and swung him up high in the air, causing the small boy to laugh. Then he settled Jake on his hip. "Hey mama, what's the plan for tonight?"

"'Mary Poppins'." Penelope replied cheerfully, attempting to distract her own mind.

"'Mary Poppins'?" Derek asked, capturing his giggling son's hand as he bopped him on the nose.

Penelope shrugged. "Who doesn't like singing chimney sweeps, dancing penguins, and nannies that come and go by umbrella? Toys that put themselves away? Also very cool." Penelope smirked.

Derek shook his head and smirked. "Alright baby girl… 'Mary Poppins' it is. But I'm introducing Jake to hockey this weekend."

Penelope snorted. "Okay if you can get him to sit still with you long enough to actually watch a game, you boys can watch it."

 

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Hotch stood quietly watching Avery and Seth sleep. It killed him not to be there tonight to watch over and protect his wife. How had he let her convince him that everything was going to be okay and that it would be best if it appeared that he was out of the loop with what was happening? He shook his head. He needed to stay clear and be ready for when Emily got home. She'd have more information and hopefully then they could form a plan.

 

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Dave smiled and shook his head as he looked down into the bullpen where Ashley and Zoe sat studying together. "All right you girls are coming out to dinner with Erin, Tim, Courtney and I. I won't take no for an answer, so put your text books away and lets go."

"But I really need to…" Ashley began to argue.

"You really need to take a break so that your brain can absorb everything you're throwing at it." Dave said as he reached over and closed her text book as he entered the bullpen. "You too" he said turning to look at Zoe.

"Are you at least going to tell us where we're going?" Zoe asked as she stood up from her desk and pulled on her coat.

"Now what would be the fun in that?" Dave asked as he led the girls out of the BAU bullpen and they headed for the elevator.

 

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Elle laughed as she watched Will attempting to get Billy to eat. Unfortunately more food was getting on the almost one year old than in him. In fact more food was getting on Daddy than was getting in Billy too.

"Mommy thinks this is funny." Will said as he looked at Billy. "You know what I think is funny?" Will asked as he turned around to look at Elle.

"No what?" Elle asked wiping tears from the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard.

"This" Will said laughing as he jumped up from his seat and wrapped his arms around her and pulling her close as he buried his baby food covered face in her neck and making loud kissy noises.

"Will" Elle squealed in shock as she tried to pull away laughing in her attempt to escape.

Billy smiled and laughed in his high chair as he watched the antics of his parents.

 

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Spence smiled as she pulled into their driveway. He quickly parked and hurried up to the front door of the house. "Daddy's home" he called as he opened the door and within moments was swarmed by Chloe and Henry who were very excited to see Daddy after his few days away.

"Hey guys" he said as he knelt down next to the currently smallest Reids. "Did you guys miss me? Because I missed you." he said softly.

JJ smiled as she made it to the entry way and saw the heart-warming welcome home Chloe and Henry were giving Spence; then she moved to join them as Spence stood up.

"Hi" JJ said stepping close to Spence and leaning up to kiss him and then glancing down at where both Chloe and Henry were leaning against one of Daddy's legs.

 

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In the back of everyone's minds though, just behind their happy homecoming and quality family time, were their worries about Emily and how they all hoped she knew what she was doing and that everything would turn out okay tonight.

 

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Emily silently approached the table with two cups of coffee in hand. She sat the first on the table with a metallic clink and then settled herself in the opposite seat to wait. She slid her purse strap off her shoulder and got comfortable. Emily knew Doyle was watching and that it would just be a matter of time until he made contact.

Emily's fingers were idly spinning her now cold cup of coffee when she felt a hand on her back. She controlled her response to avoid going ramrod straight at the all too familiar feel of Ian Doyle's hand on her back.

"I knew you were watching me." Emily said as she continued to look straight ahead.

"What's the expression? Keep your friends close, your enemies under surveillance." Doyle said as he allowed his hand to slide off of Emily's back in what from a distance could have been mistaken for the caring caress of a lover and walked to the opposite side of the table.

"I've been here for two hours. You should know better than to keep a lady waiting." Emily said as she watched Doyle move.

"Seems hypocritical, seeing as I had to wait seven years." Ian replied turning to look at Emily's face, the face of the woman he had once loved and wanted to raise his son.

Emily lifted her head to look at the man that she had cared enough about to try and save him, to get him out of his life as a terrorist, arms dealer, and mercenary before it destroyed his ability to have any sort of life with his son. She watched as he took the seat across from her and then after a few moments of silence, spoke. "Hello, Ian."

"Hello, Lauren. Oh wait, Lauren Reynolds died in a car accident, didn't she?" he asked sarcastically, reminding himself that the woman in front of him was not the woman that he'd loved, that he asked to raise his son, that he'd wanted to have a family with.

"What do you want?" Emily asked.

"You." Ian paused dramatically, as he thought about how he had wanted her… and how she had betrayed him in the worst possible way. "Oh, not today, don't worry about that. But soon." Ian said nodding his head.

"I've got a Glock leveled at your crotch. What's to stop me from taking you and the little ones out, right now?" Emily asked, completely prepared to deal with this now and be done with it.

"You'd never make it back to your car, and you know it." Ian said with a smirk as he looked at the woman that had plagued his thoughts for the last seven years until her destruction became his obsession and the only thing that had gotten him through the questioning and torture at the hands of his North Korean captors.

Emily rolled her eyes and glanced away. Of course Ian had people watching this meeting in order to make sure he walked away. Really, she had expected nothing less.

"Tell me, does the lovely Penelope know the truth about you? Or are she and Derek too busy watching movies with their son Jake to care?" Ian asked as he lounged back in his seat across from Emily.

Emily attention perked up. Doyle being familiar with anyone from the team was not something that she had been expecting.

"Certainly you've been to Elle's house before and seen how she and her husband Will interact with their son Billy when their trying to get him to eat his dinner? And Here you are, all alone, while Aaron sits at your parents with your children. It amazes me how much Avery looks like her mother… and Seth for an adopted boy, he looks just like part of the family. And then there's Jack. He's really been such a good big brother. And why didn't Dave invite you and Aaron to dinner with his family, Ashley, and Zoe? Maybe they thought you'd be spending a quiet evening having dinner at the Reid with Dr. Reid and his wife."

The level of Emily's horror intensified as he listed off what each of her teammates was doing tonight and how they frequently spent their free time. Any sense of control she thought she'd had in this situation quickly slipped away at the realization that not only was Doyle watching her, but he was watching the team.

Doyle laughed, "Well, that one does have some quirks. How he managed to land a blonde beauty like Jennifer Jareau Reid, I really don't understand… let alone convince her to have his children… Jennifer's looking ready to burst any day now, Chloe is as lovely as any three year old can be… and as I understand it, you're young Henry's godmother."

"Come near my family, and I will end you." Emily replied, her voice laced with ice and determination.

"I don't have a quarrel with them. How long that remains the case, depends entirely on you. They're innocent, you're not."

"I was doing my job."

"I think you did a little more than that. You took the only thing that mattered to me; so I'm going to take everything that matters to you, and then I'll take your life" Doyle said and then leaned forward and placed a matchbook with a four leaf clover on the table between them.

"Honore de Balzac once said, 'Most people of action are inclined to fatalism and most of thought believe in providence.'" Doyle said and then stood up from his seat at the table. "Tell me, Emily Prentiss Hotchner, which do you think you are gonna be?" Then he turned and slipped into the darkness of the night.

Emily's eyes followed Doyle as he slinked off into the darkness and anonymity of the DC winter night. Then she sat staring ahead trying to figure out how they were going to take care of this before Doyle carried out his threats.


	9. Chapter 9

Morgan sat with his elbows resting on his knees, his head down, as the team sat in the waiting room. They'd been here in the waiting room for hours... should it be taking this long... shouldn't they have heard something by now? He stared at the floor as he mind raced over the events of the last three days.

 

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"Well, well, well," Morgan said looking up at Reid as he entered the bullpen on Friday morning. "If it isn't the sex god himself." Morgan laughed as he leaned back in his chair. 

Elle bit her lip and kept her head down to avoid laughing out loud at Morgan teasing Reid. 

Zoe and Ashley glanced at each other and then look back and forth between Reid and Morgan in confusion. 

Elle took pity on their training agents and filled them in. "A few weeks ago Emily had to borrow Reid's phone to call JJ because her phone was dead. JJ thought it was Reid calling her."

Ashley raised an eyebrow and tipped her head wondering how JJ could possibly have been calling the same man a sex god who just over a week ago had given her a several minutes long verbal dissertation on Dr. Who.

Zoe nudged Ashley and whispered "What are you doing?" 

"I'm trying to reconcile rambling 'Dr. Who fanatic' with 'sex god'." Ashley replied under her breath. 

Elle snorted at overhearing Ashley and Zoe's conversation and then turned her attention back to Reid and Morgan's standoff, interested to see how things were going to play out. 

"You know, I had a coffee for you…" Reid said as he handed Starbucks coffee out to Ashley, Zoe, and Elle. "… but it must have gotten lost in the shuffle. I guess I better go get Anderson his coffee before it gets cold." Reid said with a smile at Morgan as he walked away.

"Did he just…" Morgan trailed off as he watched Reid head across the bullpen and hand Anderson a cup of coffee.

Before Morgan could complete his comment, Hotch and Emily swept into the bullpen. 

"Hey Hotch, Hey Emily" Reid greeted them as he walked back across the bullpen and handed them their coffee. 

"Thanks Reid" Emily replied with a nod as she took a sip. "Can you let JJ know to expect a phone call? I have some friends visiting the area and they're hoping to get a tour of the Pentagon. I thought maybe JJ could set something up." Emily said as she lowered the cup. She picked a post it note up off of Reid's desk and wrote Tsia, Sean, and Clyde on it.

Reid nodded in understanding and sat down at his desk and called JJ, letting her know to expect guests shortly at the Pentagon while Hotch went up to Penelope's lair to speak with her. He brought Reid's offering of coffee with him to deliver to Penelope. 

Reid turned to look at Emily. "JJ said to let you know that she's more than happy to give your friends a tour, but she has a very important conference call that she needs to step into in about fifteen minutes."

Emily nodded in reply that she understood. "Thanks Reid. Tell JJ I appreciate her welcoming my friends to the city."

Fifteen minutes later, the team was gathered around the conference room table of the SCIF and connected via a secure phone line to JJ, Tsia, Sean, and Clyde at the Pentagon.

"I'm sorry for the secretive measures for the call this morning, but it's important that you all know that Ian Doyle is here in DC." Emily explained. 

"How can you be so sure?" Clyde asked.

"I sat next to him last night." Emily replied.

"What?" Tsia asked.

"He has the BAU team and their families under surveillance. He's not working alone." 

"Why didn't he kill you?" Tsia asked.

"More importantly, why didn't you kill him?" Clyde replied.

"Clyde, did you miss the part where I just said he's not working alone?" Emily asked.

"No… no you're right darling." Clyde replied.

"So is he just playing with her?" Tsia asked.

"No, no he's a para-socio-psychopath. He doesn't play games." Clyde replied.

"He gave me a matchbook for the The Black Shamrock in Boston." Emily said. "I think he wants to end this where it started… and I have a feeling I know what he's using as his base of operations."

"How do you know that?" Clyde asked.

"Because there was something I left out of the profile seven years ago." Emily replied as she took a deep breath. "Doyle had a son, Declan. In order to free Declan from the life his father had planned for him and to prevent him being used as leverage to get Doyle to talk, I faked his death. In a warehouse in Boston. Photos were staged to confirm the death and I added Declan to the profile along with the photos after everyone had rolled off to our new assignments."

There was stunned silence for moments on the other end of the phone before Sean cleared his throat. "Well as long as we're coming clean about things…"

"Sean, don't do it. It's on a need to know basis." Clyde said. "And her team doesn't have clearance."

"I think at this point, considering that everyone on this call is currently being watched by Doyle, we all need to know." JJ said as she looked at Clyde.

Sean nodded. "Right then, Emily, I lied when I told you that Doyle was taken to Russia. We contracted with Clear Water Security to have Doyle delivered to Camp 22 in North Korea." He said as he braced himself for what he was sure to come.

"You put him in Kwan-li-so?" Emily yelled. "No wonder he wants every one of our heads on a plate."

Zoe glanced around the room and saw that Ashley was just as confused as her. "Um, I'm sorry but what are Camp 22 and Kwan-li-so?" she asked knowing that if she didn't someone else would.

Emily sighed in agravation as she wondered how much of the revenge Doyle wanted had to do with where he'd been held captive for the last 7 years. "It's a political prison near Haengyong in North Korea. The prisoners are reported to have been subjected to slave labor conditions, torture, starvation, rape, murder, and medical experimentation. There have been accounts reported that included the use of a glass gas chamber to observe the effects of toxic chemical experiments." Emily said sadly as she looked around at the team. There were monsters in the world that raised the horrors they witnessed in the course of their work to a whole new level. "North Korea of course denies its existstance. So you can see why Doyle is wanting revenge."

"Well that and that little matter of thinking that his son is dead darling." Clyde replied attempting to break the tension before it broke the team. "And now that we've aired out dirty laundry what else do we need to discuss?"

"The team that delivered Doyle to Camp 22, has anyone warned them that he's out?" Hotch asked.

"I'm not sure." Sean replied. "I'll make the call as soon as we're off the phone."

Emily nodded. "PG can you help me check a few things out?"

Penelope nodded as she clasped her hands together, trying not to get excited about the cloak and dagger interagency cooperation happening in their midst. It always got her blood up. 

"Good because we need to end this. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am tired of looking over my shoulder." Emily said. "I'll be in contact as soon as we have something."

 

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Morgan glanced at his wife as she sighed and shifted next to him as they sat waiting in the hospital waiting room. He leaned back in his seat, wrapping an arm around Penelope. "It's going to be okay baby girl… it's all going to be okay. You'll see." Derek murmured as she leaned over and kissed Penelope on the cheek.

Penelope nodded her head and leaned over resting her cheek on her husband's shoulder as she thought back.

 

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"Okay gumdrop, what do you have?" Penelope asked as she stretched her fingers before placing them on her keyboard.

Emily sifted through the file that she taken to keeping on her person about three weeks ago in order to be able to easily access it. "Okay, let's take a look at this" she said as she pulled out the staged photos of Declan and Louise's murder.

Penelope's eyes widened. "Oh my god Emily!" 

Emily glanced sadly at Penelope. "They're staged PG. Declan and Louise are both still alive… but I had to make everyone think they were dead so that Declan could be free."

Penelope took a deep breath. "You're right, you're right. I know you're right… but they're so real."

"So the warehouse where I staged these photos… that's where I think Doyle has his operations set up at…" 

"Okay… so do you have an address for this warehouse?" Pen asked.

"1518 Adams Street in Boston" Emily replied.

"Okay, so I'm looking, I'm looking… and oh my… that's big enough to house a small army… weapons… supplies… its own perimeter…"

"I needed someplace large enough that no one would notice what we were doing." Emily said. "So is there anything to tell us if Doyle is using the building?"

Penelope's fingers flew over the keyboard as she pulled information out of the ether with each keystroke, building the arsenal of information they'd need against Doyle.

"Okay how about Jack Fahey, of Boston. What can you pull up on him?" Emily asked after they'd looked at everything regarding the warehouse.

"I'm going to need more than just Jack Fahey to go on gumdrop. Do you see how many Jack Faheys there are in Boston?" Penelope asked as she pointed at her monitor. 

"Well you can get rid of all of the Jack Faheys that don't have rap sheets as long as your arm. The Jack Fahey we're looking for is connected to the Irish mob. He's small time, but he's kept the Boston PD very busy over the years." Emily explained.

Penelope nodded and then found one Jack Fahey that looked like he could be the man Emily was looking for. "Is this him?" Penelope asked as she pulled his photo up on the screen. 

"That's him." Emily nodded. 

 

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Penelope frowned in concern as she glanced over at Ashley and Zoe as she tried to judge how they were holding up from their experiences over the last few days.

Ashley sat with her feet planted on the seat of the hospital waiting room chair, her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them to her chest, as she contemplated all that had happened in the last few days and how the team had ended up in Boston.

 

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Within just a short while the team was back in the SCIF on the phone with JJ, Sean, Tsia, and Clyde discussing the plan that Emily had come up with to draw out and capture Doyle.

"PG checked and Fahey is still in Boston. I think our best bet is going to be tracking him down at The Black Shamrock and getting him to tell us where Doyle is." Emily said as they began discussing the plan to bring down Doyle. 

Clyde nodded. "I'll pull some funds together. Fahey always was bloody greedy bastard." 

"Sean, were you able to reach everyone from the Clearwater Securities team?" Emily asked in concern, not wanting anyone else to be hurt by Doyle in his quest for revenge.

"Aye, I was." Sean replied. "They've all been warned. They're trained like agents. They've broken their normal routines, and I set them up with access to a few different safe houses that they can use until they receive word that we've brought in Doyle."

Emily nodded. "Then I think we're ready to put our plan into action."

 

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Ashley flinched ever so slightly as Hotch walked past her while he paced anxiously. Hotch still couldn't believe that he'd let Emily go off to Boston alone on Friday. Well she hadn't exactly been alone he supposed.

 

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"Are you sure you want to do this alone… one call and we can have the jet ready and be in Boston in under an hour." Aaron whispered into Emily's ear as they stood sharing a private moment together before she 'fled' to Boston in search of Doyle.

"You know I would like nothing more than for you and the team to be with me, but we discussed this. In order for this to work I need to head to Boston alone and draw Doyle and his men behind me. I'll have Sean, Tsia, and Clyde watching my back, and you know we need to finish this away from here so that the kids will be safe. Were you able to get everything set up?" Emily asked. 

Aaron nodded. "Will is taking Billy and going to JJ and Reid's for a play date. I have Anderson and a couple other agents going to help Will with protecting Rebecca and the kids. They're going to disguise themselves as college students getting together with Rebecca for a study group. Morgan and Penelope assured me that Jake is safe in the daycare downstairs. They don't want to pull him out since it would come across as being out of routine, just in case it raises suspicions. I called the head of your mother's Security team and let him know to lock down the house. Nobody goes in or out until they hear from one of us. Your mother wants you to call her as soon as you can."

Emily smiled and shook her head at how well in hand he had everything that they'd talked about as far as how they would keep all of the kids safe if and when it came time to face off with Doyle. "We need to end this. We need to get things back to normal for Avery and Seth, even though I know that my parents are enjoying spoiling and doting on them non-stop 24/7."

Aaron tightened his grip on Emily, pulling her closer, knowing that their time together before she had to leave was limited. "Well isn't that supposed to be every grandparents dream?" he joked, his voice wavering ever so slightly as he looked into his wife's eyes.

Emily reached up and cupped his cheek with her hand. "I suppose it is. And someday, many, many years from now, when Jack, Avery, and Seth are grown and married we'll do the same thing my parents are right now." Emily said reassuring Aaron that everything in Boston was going to go as planned. "But now I have to go. The sooner I get to Boston, the sooner this is all over." 

 

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'God, what that monster Doyle did to Emily…' Hotch thought as he continued to pace.

"Hey" Zoe whispered to Ashley as Hotch continued pacing in front of them, "are you okay?"

"Yeah" Ashley nodded. "I just never… I don't… I've never seen that much blood before."

Zoe nodded in agreement in her chair next to Ashley's. "I know… this was definitely not something we were prepared for at the Academy." She said as she sank down in the chair and allowed head to fall back and rest on the back of the chair her thoughts wandering back over the course of the last 3 days.

 

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"So what happens when we get to Boston?" Zoe asked as the team and JJ sat congregated together on the jet bound for Boston.

"Clyde is meeting us at the Boston field office. Emily has eyes on Doyle and his team at the warehouse right now. Sean and Tsia are busy debriefing Jack Fahey, for lack of a better term, but they aren't making much headwy so they want our help." Hotch explained as he leaned on the back of the seats, attempting to hide how tightly his fingers were gripping the leather seats from the rest of the team. Somehow he knew though, that he wasn't fooling those on the team that he'd worked with the longest.

"And then what happens?" Ashley asked as she tipped her head back to look at Hotch who was standing behind her seat.

"Clyde will brief us all on what they've managed to find out. Once he's brought us up to speed, we'll be preparing for what happens when we go after Doyle. We'll interrogate Jack Fahey, and hopefully we'll find out how many men Doyle has and what type of equipment we'll be dealing with."

Rossi nodded. "We'll definitely need to know that if we don't want to be blindsided. We need to be prepared for the fact that Emily is operating right now as a spy and not as an FBI Agent. She might be put in a position where she has to be just as ruthless as Doyle."

Morgan wasn't entirely comfortable with what that thought could mean, but he nodded, knowing that what was important was that they all made it home to their kids, so if Emily needed to play by the rules from her life as a CIA Agent, then that was something that he was just going to have to deal with. 

"How much information do you think Jeremy Wolff gave to Doyle and how much do you think Doyle figured out on his own?" JJ asked from where she sat next to Spence on the couch.

"In theory, the only thing that Jeremy would have really needed to give to Doyle was everyone's real names." Spence replied.

Rossi shook his head. "True… but there was also the Clear Water Securities team. To be honest I think Jeremy gave Doyle the entire file that had been built on him or at the very least everything that he had access to."

The team nodded as they continued to discuss all the information that they had as the jet made its way to Boston.

 

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Rossi breathed a sigh of slight relief when Hotch finally took a seat next to him. The man had understandably been on edge… he shook his head and stood up, taking his turn to pace. He glanced around at the worry on everyone's faces.

 

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Rossi and another agent led Fahey through the bullpen. He released Fahey's arm as the other agent continued to escort him to the interrogation room. They'd picked Fahey up from the safe house where Sean and Tsia had been holding him. If federal agents were going to question him, he had to be in custody and read his Miranda rights. They didn't want anything slipping through the cracks on this. Emily might be able to squeak by in what she was doing under the auspices of being a former CIA Agent; the rest of the team however, didn't have that luxury.

"Anybody got a smoke?" Fahey yelled as he sat handcuffed in the interrogation room. "What about you beanpole?" Fahey asked as he looked at Reid who was studying Fahey's demeanor and looking for how they were going to get any additional information out of him. 

Reid looked behind him in an 'are you talking to me?' manner and then crossed his arms as he turned to look at Rossi. 

"What do you think?" Rossi asked. 

"Narcissism. Probably has some deep seated insecurity."

"So if we puncture self-image, this hood rat will talk." Rossi replied.

"Hey, hey, hey, I ain't no hood rat. You take that back" Fahey said as he pointed at Rossi.

"Well you look like one." Rossi said as he walked towards Fahey. Then he sniffed. "You smell like one. Do you smell that?" he asked as he turned to face Reid.

Reid sniffed a couple of times as he stood with his arms crossed. "Hood rat." was his reply to Rossi's question.

"I am not. Take it back." Fahey replied fiercely denying the accusation.

"Hey Jack" Rossi said as he leaned down, getting Fahey's face. "Do you know what a hood rat is?" 

Fahey stared at Rossi unable to reply because he truly didn't even know what a hood rat was. 

"See what I mean?" Rossi said as he turned to look at Reid. "He's just going to have to learn the hard way."

Reid smiled as he looked down at Jack Fahey. "Or maybe he'll just tell us what he knows."

"I ain't no snitch." Fahey replied. "You don't get to be the man by being no snitch."

"Ah, but your… I suppose you could call them business associates, they don't know that." Rossi said with a tip of his head as he looked at Fahey. "How long do you suppose it would take Jacky boy here to be able to tell us a good amount of dirt on all of his associates?" Rossi asked as he turned to look at Reid.

Reid nodded, understanding where Rossi was going. "A couple hours or so."

"I already told you, I ain't no snitch." Fahey said again.

"Ah but that's the beauty of it Jacky boy." Rossi said as he sat on the edge of the table and leaned over into Fahey's personal space. "You don't have to tell us anything." Rossi said as he glanced over his shoulder at Reid.

Reid nodded and rocked back on his heels as he stuck his hands back in his pockets. "Your associates will automatically assume that you told us what we wanted to know since we let you go."

"You're letting me go?" Fahey asked in confusion as he tried to put together what was going on. 

"Oh we're going to let you go alright," Rossi nodded "but, I wonder how long you'll last when every member of the Irish mob thinks you rated them out and Doyle thinks you ratted him out too."

Reid tipped his head and smiled at Fahey. "Still sure you don't want to just tell us everything you know about Ian Doyle?"

 

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Rossi shook his head as he filled two cups of coffee. 'Fahey really was an honest to god hood rat, and a dumbass big mouth one at that with all his bragging about being the man. He'd say it was a shame about his ear, but then Fahey wasn't using the brain between his ears so he'd probably do just fine where he was going with only one ear.' Rossi thought as he carried the cups of coffee back to his seat and handed one to Aaron as he sat down next to his friend. One of the great ironies of their lives was the he and Aaron Hotchner were best friends, while you probably couldn't pay Emily Hotchner any amount of money to spend time alone in a room with Erin Rossi, let alone be friends with the woman.

Hotch took a sip of his coffee and continued to stare down at his shoes as that nights events played over again in his mind.

 

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"We need to go. Now." Clyde said as he came back in the room from calling Tsia and Sean to get an update on what was happening.

 

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Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about how quickly everything had moved from that point forward. He looked up and made eye contact with Morgan and nodded, reassuring his agent, but more importantly, his friend that he knew that he'd done everything he could.

Derek broke eye contact with Hotch buried his face in his baby girl's blonde curls, wishing for the moment when the last month would be nothing but a bad memory, willing it to happen as he squeezed his eyes shut at the events of the night.

 

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"Agent Prentiss is the only friendly in the building. Rescuing her is our primary objective." Hotch said as he briefed the strike force that would attack Doyle's makeshift complex in the warehouse.

"Our only advantage here is stealth." Morgan added. "Once they know we're onsite there's nothing to stop them from killing her. So we keep it quiet until we get to her." He said as they continued the briefing and prepared everyone to move out.

 

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"Hey, it's going to be okay." Spence murmured into JJ's ear as she squeezed his hand, trying not to cry.

JJ nodded and let her head fall back, reminding herself to breathe as she allowed her thoughts of the last 72 hours wash over her.

 

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JJ hung up her cell phone from speaking with Spence regarding Emily's visiting friends, knowing exactly what friends Emily had been speaking about as she looked across her desk at where Tsia, Clyde, and Sean sat. "Well we should probably go get ready for our conference call with Emily and the team." JJ said as she stood up from her desk, locked her cell phone in her desk, offered to secure their phones as well, and then led them down the hall to the SCIF they would using for their conference call with the team in Quantico.

 

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JJ's mind jumped and skipped though all of the various briefings, updates, planning that had happened in the last few days, culminating with the events of earlier that night.

 

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"JJ, you stay here with Garcia." Hotch said as he handed out the team member's assignments for when they breached the warehouse that Doyle was using as his compound. Thanks to Garcia's finesse on a computer, they had blue prints, power grids, access points, and all of the surrounding roads.

"Like hell I will." JJ replied.

"JJ, you're pregnant." Hotch replied, in no mood to argue.

"You're right, I'm pregnant, not an invalid." JJ replied testily. "I'll be in the surveillance truck with Ashley and Zoe."

Hotch breathed a sigh of relief. He could live with JJ being in the surveillance truck. And you never knew, they might need an extra set of eyes and ears, especially ones as well trained as JJ's, when they breached the warehouse. "Okay" he nodded.

JJ, Ashley, and Zoe listened on their own headsets while the communications team around them worked to record and document what was happening in the warehouse. They were taking no chances. 

At first it was radio silent as the SWAT team, snipers, and various agents participating in the raid got into position. Then a couple soft pops signaled that the snipers had taken out the perimeter guards. 

The sound of boots and breathing was all that could be heard for next few minutes as everyone moved to breach the warehouse. A few more of Doyle's men were silently taken out with the soft popping sound of silenced weapons. And then the sound of automatic gunfire filled the warehouse and it became a race to get to Emily before Doyle could exact the price he'd deemed necessary for all that she'd cost him.

JJ listened as Hotch gave the order to cut the power. She heard Morgan call out. "I got her!" Then it became a frenzy as everyone began asking each other over their mikes if anyone had Doyle.

JJ pulled the earpiece out of her ear as everyone began trying to talk at once. Then there was a shuffling noise along the side of the truck they were sitting in. She turned to look at Ashley, Zoe, and the couple other agents manning the equipment, and lifted her finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet. She pulled out her gun and moved to the side door of the truck, waiting until the noise moved past them. She slowly opened the door and peered around the corner noting the shadowed figure quietly making its way away from the warehouse.

She stepped out of the truck and held up her hand as Zoe and Ashley moved follow her. "When I yell his name and he turns around, I need one of you to turn on the headlights of the truck. They'll blind him, momentarily at least."

Zoe nodded where she stood behind Ashley and stepped back into the truck and sat in the driver's seat, rolling down the driver's side window so that she would be able to clearly hear what was happening outside.

"FREEZE DOYLE!" JJ yelled.

Zoe watched, trying to discern in darkness of the warehouse loading dock if Doyle had turned around yet or not. Then she saw it, his profile. Then his form widened once again, and she flipped the switch for the headlights.

Doyle blinked and raised his hand to his eyes as he was suddenly blinded by the headlights in his eyes. He raised his gun as he continued to blink, making out the shape of a person standing next to the SWAT truck that he'd passed.

"Or you'll what?" Doyle called out seeing only one agent attempting to stop his getaway. 

"Or I'll shoot." JJ replied in a no nonsense tone of voice.

"Not if I shoot first love." Doyle replied.

JJ pulled the trigger, her aim true, as the crack of the weapon sounded through the night air.

"Son of a bitch" Doyle as the bullet tore into his shoulder and he dropped the gun. He dropped to the ground and fumbled momentarily for the gun with his left hand as he lay on the ground. Knowing that he had mere seconds to act if he hoped to escape being caught and returned to a hell hole of existence.

JJ's firearm cracked again as it reported her shot.

Doyle lay on the asphalt, a bullet wound in his right arm, where JJ had first shot him, a through and through bullet hole in the center of his left hand where she had shot the gun right out of his hand. That bullet had then lodged itself in his chest.

JJ lifted her earpiece back to her ear as she spoke into her mike. "I've got Doyle."

 

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Elle stared straight ahead as she sat thinking about last three days and everything that had happened much like the rest of the team had been.

She hadn't been able to help but notice Hotch pacing. The last three days had been hell for him. Rossi too had paced, but his unease in no way could compare to Hotch's. Ashley and Zoe were noticeably shaken by the experience, at first but she was sure they'd shake it off. Penelope's head rested on Derek's shoulder as she thought about one of her best friends lying in a bed, here in the hospital. She watched as Derek kissed Penelope on the temple, and she couldn't help but be just a little jealous that they had each other for comfort right now. She wished Will was here. It been an emotional couple of days since they last saw each other and she just wanted her husband's arms wrapped around her... she could only maintain the tough exterior for so long and right now she was reaching the threshold.

Before her thoughts could drift further into the events that led to the team sitting in the waiting room, the sound of footsteps headed towards them from down the hallway caused her to sit up straight and look at the doorway where the footsteps paused. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that everyone else had sprung to attention as well, anxious for the news they'd been waiting for.

"It's a boy!" Reid exclaimed with a large grin on his face as he stood in the doorway. The team all stood up with smiles on their faces, the tension of the last several hours while JJ was in labor washing away as they crowded around Reid to congratulate him.


	10. Chapter 10

Emily smiled as she moved down the hallway towards the group congregated in the doorway of the waiting room. "The baby's here?" she asked as she stepped up beside Reid and looked up at him.

Reid turned and grinned at Emily. "8 pounds 4 ounces, all boy."

"Congratulations Reid" Emily said as she leaned up and hugged Reid. "That's quite a bit bigger than Chloe and Henry were though right?"

Reid nodded. "Chloe and Henry were each born three weeks early though… a fetus gains nearly a pound a week during the last four weeks of pregnancy." He explained knowingly.

"Well that makes sense then." Emily replied.

"How about you? Are you going to be okay?" Reid asked nodding to the bandage peeking out of the edge of Emily's shirt.

Emily winced; she'd hoped that no one would really notice other than Aaron, and perhaps Morgan since he'd seen firsthand what Doyle had done to her. "It's sore. It hurts, and getting it removed is going to be a bitch, but I'll be okay." Emily replied as Reid started to lead them down the hallway to JJ's hospital room.

 

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"Battery's dead Fahey" Emily said from where she sat in the backseat of Fahey's car while he tried to turn over the engine.

"Jesus… Lauren" Fahey said, recognizing the voice of the woman in the back seat, and then feeling the cold metal of her gun as she raised it next to his head.

"How many men does Doyle have Jack?"

"Doyle? Shhh… I haven't seen that guy in…" 

Emily cocked the hammer of the gun to let Fahey know that she meant business.

"Fif… fifteen, may… maybe twenty guys." Fahey replied as he shifted awkwardly in the driver's seat of his car where is sat parked on the dark street just down the street from The Black Shamrock.

"Any surprises?" Emily asked as kept the cocked gun pointed at Fahey.

"Just automatic weapons, it's mostly local mod guys… uh there's a little bit of IRA. Uh…" Fahey winced, "Lauren how about you do me a favor huh? How about you ease up on that gun, okay? I helped you and Clyde back in the day… I can help you now. Do you want to know where Doyle is?"

"I already do." 

"Yeah, right. What are you gonna do, take him out on your own?" Fahey asked in disbelief.

"What are you gonna do, tell him?" Emily asked in a deadly threatening tone of voice.

Fahey's eyes got big as he watched Lauren in the rearview mirror. "Wait, wait, wait, wait." The blast of a gun was the last thing he heard in his right ear just before he lost consciousness. 

Sean, Tsia, and Clyde stepped out of the shadows as Emily stepped out of the backseat of Jack Fahey's car while holstering her gun.

"God Emily," Tsia said as she peaked into the window of the car at the unconscious Fahey. "Did you really need to shoot him? I'm going to end up having to touch him now to clean that wound." 

"Unfortunately, she did need to shoot him." Clyde replied smoothly. "Doyle would never believe that someone like Emily or Lauren would just let him walk away without a warning not to tell Doyle. He'd be able to sense a trap about to be sprung if Fahey wasn't wounded." 

Tsia nodded in understanding, knowing that Clyde was speaking the truth. That didn't mean however, that she was looking forward to having to touch the greasy letch. "Okay so we wait for Fahey to wake back up and follow him?"

Sean nodded and looked at Emily. "Were you able to place the bug and the tracking chip on him?" 

Emily nodded. "Tagged him as soon as he passed out."

"So we follow him and wait for him to contact Doyle." Sean said as he turned to look back at Tsia. "Once he's done that we grab him and see what else he knows."

Clyde nodded. "Alright, Sean and Tsia you tail Fahey and grab him. I don't want to be too close by, since I'll be expecting him to call me to try and play both ends against the middle."

Emily nodded. "That sounds like Jack, always looking out for himself."

Clyde nodded. "I'll go with Emily to stake out the perimeter of the warehouse and to be able to update Emily's team on our progress."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So marriage, children, I never thought you would be one to settle down." Clyde said as they sat in the car watching Doyle and his team of mercenaries' movements. "It's tragic really."

"You think it's tragic that I'm happily married with a family?" Emily asked in disbelief as she turned from watching Liam and Doyle through the long angle lens of the camera to look at Clyde.

"No darling, it's tragic that I was all mouth and trousers and instead of just telling you I fancied you seven years ago, more than fancied you really."

Emily's eyes grew wide as she looked at Clyde, she'd felt the chemistry between them seven years ago, but had never had the courage to pursue anything with Clyde Easter.

"And now I've gone and thrown a spanner in the works haven't I?" Clyde realized as he looked at Emily and realized what he'd missed out on. "Let's forget I said anything shall we?"

"Clyde," Emily started to speak.

"No darling, really I should have kept my peace. I'm very happy for you. Really." Clyde replied. "Now, what are Doyle and his boys up to?" Clyde asked as they watched two SUVs pull to a stop in front of the warehouse. Doyle exited from the second car and started barking commands like the former IRA Captain that he was.

 

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"You know there are other ways to catch Doyle than doing this." Clyde said as they met up with Sean and Tsia after spending the afternoon and early evening watching the warehouse and then tailing Doyle to The Black Shamrock.

"But are there quicker ways?" Emily asked.

"No, no, I don't suppose there are considering we're here, he's here, and all the kings men are almost lined up in position." Clyde replied. "Well, then… I suppose since we're moving forward with this, I'll go and call Agent Hotchner and meet up with your team at the field office while you finish getting ready." Then he turned and walked out of the room. 

"Are you sure you want to do this Emily?" Tsia asked. "We know that Doyle and his men are at the warehouse. You don't need to use yourself as bait and basically hand yourself over to him."

Emily looked at Sean and Tsia, her two closest friends from their days with JTF-12. "Actually I do. Hopefully we'll capture or kill him right now, but remember if things go south, don't come after me. Contact the Clyde. If we have to take him at the warehouse, I'm the only thing that will distract him long enough for us to have a chance at bringing him in… and if you're honest with yourself, you know it too."

Tsia nodded her head, knowing that Emily spoke the truth. "Okay, tracking device." Tsia said holding out her hand that contained a small device.

Emily undid the snap and zipper of her pants and placed the tracking device in the hollow of her hip, and used medical tape holding it down in place. She activated the device and glanced at Tsia who nodded as she looked at the iPad screen, letting Emily know that it was working. 

"All set?" Sean asked as he stood facing away from Emily while she placed the tracking device. 

"You can turn around Sean" Emily said with a smile as she thought about the very different demeanors of the remaining two male members of the JTF-12 team. Clyde was very much a 007, James Bond, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond girls and all; while Sean was an unassuming, a family man through and through, a gentleman to the core.

"Okay, I think you know how everything here works." Tsia said as she showed Emily the supplies that she and Sean had laid out while Emily and Clyde had been doing surveillance. 

Emily nodded as she took in the table with the bullet proof vest, flash bang grenades, a semi-automatic snub nose machine gun, and of course ammo. Yes, in the course of her adult life she'd certainly become more than familiar with these items, she thought to herself as her eyes perused the equipment and then she started to prepare.

 

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'It was only a matter of time before the team reached her.' Emily thought to herself as she sat tied to a chair in the warehouse. Then she could hear what she assumed were Doyle's footsteps on the cement floor behind her.

Doyle stopped behind the chair that held the woman he'd once thought he knew so well. He settled his left hand on her shoulder, his fingers gripping her throat. "Where's my ring?"

"I don't know." Emily replied thinking of how she always kept the ring in her safe at home. She wanted to have something of his father's to give to Declan someday, something that showed he wasn't a completely horrible man, something that showed Declan that his father was capable of love.

"I spent seven years in hell because of that ring," Doyle said as he reached down and began unbuttoning her shirt, "so now I'm going to give you another gift, one you won't lose so easily." He said as he pulled her shirt open, exposing her bra and chest.

Emily twisted and turned, trying to see what Doyle was doing where he'd walked to the far side of the room. 

"Four-leaf Clover should be a nice addition to your other tattoos." Doyle said as he pulled the cover off of a cart and wheeled it over next to the chair where Emily was bound.

Emily tried to control her breathing and show no fear as she looked at the machine next to her.

"You still have two, right?" Doyle asked as he turned to look at Emily.

"Yep, and that's enough ink." Emily said with a shake of her head. "Thanks."

Doyle chuckled. "Ink," he said as he knelt down in front of the machine and turned it on, "North Koreans can't afford ink. No, no, they brand themselves." Doyle said with a shake of his head as he looked up at Emily.

Emily's eyes went wide as she realized what Doyle was going to do. 

Doyle picked up the wand and walked behind Emily. 

Emily attempted to fight against Doyle, not wanting any permanent marks left on her body that could remind her of him. 

"The more you fight, the more this'll hurt." Doyle said as he pulled her back by her hair and pressed the wand to the unblemished flesh of her left breast. He doubted he would be so easily forgotten when his mark was emblazoned just over her heart.

Emily cried out in pain as Doyle began to brand her. Smoke and the acrid smell of burnt flesh swirled in the air just in front of her.

Doyle no more than finished buttoning her shirt back up than there was the sound of automatic gunfire just outside the room. "It looks like you live to fight another day love; because I didn't bring a gun in the room with me. Quelle surprise." Doyle said as he slipped back into the shadows of the room.

Emily fought against ropes that bound her, unwilling to believe that Doyle was going to escape. She couldn't continue to live like they had been for the last few weeks… the kids… god the kids. "I'm in here! I'm in here!" she yelled out hoping that someone from the team would get to her quickly enough that they could still go after and catch Doyle.

"I got her!" Morgan called out as he ran into the room and slid to his knees next to Emily working to get her untied.

"Doyle…" Emily choked out.

"It's okay princess, we've got you. You're safe now." Morgan said as he gave up on untying the knots and pulled out his knife to cut the ropes.

"No… he's running, that way." Emily said nodding her head towards the shadowed corner of the room where she'd last seen Doyle.

"Has anybody got Doyle?" Morgan asked into his mike as he carefully cut Emily's bonds.

Morgan winced at the sudden increase in noise as the panic increased that Doyle might have gotten away. But a breath of relief swept through the entire team mere moments later when JJ voice swept through everyone's earpieces announcing "I've got Doyle."

 

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"Look who I found just sitting around in the waiting room" Spence said as he entered his wife's hospital room.

"Hey guys" JJ whispered as she looked up from the blue bundle in her arms to the team in the doorway.

The team huddled in close around the bed trying to catch a glimpse of the newest member of the BAU family.

JJ glanced at Spence, who nodded at her as he wrapped his arm around her and sat on the edge of the bed next to her and then grinned again as he looked down at the newest baby Reid.

"Guys," JJ said as she tipped her arms allowing the team to see the baby more easily. "This is Joshua Wyatt Reid."

Rossi nodded and smiled. "God is my salvation and little warrior. Interesting choices." He said pulling a page from Jason Gideon's book and telling the team what the names meant.

Reid's eyebrows rose up on his forehead. "You know the meanings of names off the top of your head?"

"You're not the only who reads a lot Reid." Rossi replied dryly. "Plus Erin's been trying to talk me into writing a novel as a way to get my mind off of the cases, which means I have a book of names that she got me to use to pick the names of characters." He said. He wasn't going to mention that they'd also been toying with the idea of adopting.

JJ smiled and shook her head at Spence who was pouting that he hadn't gotten to share the meaning of the baby's name with team. "We wanted a name that would be special and mean something, just like Chloe and Henry's names." JJ said as she looked around at the team. "So…" JJ paused as she got choked up. As happy as she was to be holding Joshua, she couldn't help but think of the baby who wasn't here… the baby that would never be… Jason Brendan.

Spence ran his hand lightly down JJ's back, kissed her temple, and whispered in her ear. "Are you okay?"

JJ nodded. "So, Elle, would you like to hold him?" she asked as she looked at Elle.

"Of course," Elle smiled as she reached out to take the baby from JJ.

Spence smiled and looked down at JJ who nodded, deciding that they definitely wanted Elle and Will to be Joshua's god parents. Then he grinned. "So who had March 7 in the baby pool?"

Morgan looked around the room to see if any of them had picked that date. When no one answered he looked back at Reid and shrugged. "My notebook's in my desk at the office. I'll have to look when we get home."

A short while later, after Joshua had been passed around and everyone had a chance to hold the newest member of the family; a nurse came in and announced that visiting hours were over.

"We should probably head to the hotel anyway." Hotch said. "It's been a long few days."

Emily nodded. "I have to come back in the morning and have them check my" Emily waved her hand in the general vicinity of the bandage on her chest.

"Are you gonna be okay?" JJ asked in concerned tone of voice as she noticed the size and location of the bandage Emily was wearing.

"Yes." Emily replied. "It hurt like a…" Emily paused looking at the baby, "well it hurt a lot when Doyle was doing it. But when the dermatologist used a laser on it, they gave me the good drugs. Even though you were in labor for almost 20 hours, I think I still have a few hours left before I can technically operate heavy machinery." Emily said with a laugh as she tried to keep the mood light after the ordeal they'd all been through in the last few weeks.

"Yeah what gives with baby number 3 here taking longer than either Chloe or Henry?" Penelope asked.

JJ smiled. "I blame Spence. Did you see how big our boy's head is?" she said with a smile as she pulled the swaddling from Joshua's head just enough so that everyone could see how large his head was.

All of the women winced sympathetically.

"Why is that fact that he has a big head my fault?" Spence asked. "The average newborn's head circumference is 14 inches or 35 centimeters. Joshua's head is only slightly over 14 inches."

Morgan laughed. "JJ's blaming Josh's big head on the fact that his Daddy has a big brain, pretty boy." Morgan said as he clapped Reid on the shoulder.

"Oh" Reid replied somewhat sheepishly.

JJ smiled and leaned into Spence's chest. "Don't worry, baby. I love your big brain. I think it's sexy."

"And on that note, I think it's time we give JJ and Reid some time alone with Joshua." Rossi said with a chuckle as he headed for the door.

"Dave's right. We'll see you in the morning." Hotch replied with a smile.

One by one the team members said their goodbyes and filtered out until just Morgan was left. "Here Reid, Penelope thought you might need these." He said as he handed Reid his and JJ's go bags.

"Thanks man, see you in the morning." Reid said as he took the bags from Morgan.

Spence sat the go bags in a chair off to the side of the room and went back to sit next JJ on the bed again. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired" JJ yawned. "This guy wore me out." She said as she ran her finger lightly over their baby boy's cheek.

Spence smiled as he reached down and ran his hand over the baby. "Is it strange that even though he's our third baby, I'm still absolutely amazed and in awe that he's finally here?" he whispered into JJ's ear.

JJ shook his head. "If it is, then we can be strange together, because I am just as amazed and in awe as I was every single time before." Then she yawned.

Spence stood up from the bed and slid his arms under JJ's. "Come on buddy. You wore Mommy out today. She needs her sleep." Spence said as he cradled their son in his arms and leaned forward and kissed his wife softly. "Get some sleep. Joshua and I will just spend some time together for a little bit and then I'll take a shower and get some sleep too.'

JJ nodded as she started to drift off, exhausted from her incredibly long adrenaline fueled day. "I love you Spence."

"I love you too JJ." Spence replied, kissing JJ one last time for the night just as her eyes drifted shut and she fell asleep.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JJ no more than reported that she had Doyle, than she felt the slow trickle of water seeping through her pants and down her legs. Spence was going to be upset. She'd promised him that she tell him when she went into labor right away this time… and considering how moody she'd been all day, she'd probably been in labor since at least when they were preparing to come on the raid. 

Should she probably have listened to Hotch and staid back with Pen? Yes. Was she glad that she hadn't since it ended up with Doyle being caught? Hell yes. 

Then JJ panted as she felt a contraction. Her fingers gripped her gun tightly. "Zoe, Ashley, I need your help." She called out as she rubbed her free hand over her belly while she kept her gun aimed at Doyle. 

"Hang on baby… we need to find Daddy and get to the hospital before you decide to be born." JJ whispered softly under her breath so that it wouldn't be picked up by the mike. The last thing she wanted was for Spence to find out that she'd gone into labor along with 25 other people over the coms.

Zoe and Ashley were quickly beside her. 

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked in a concerned voice, noting that JJ didn't look like her normal self… well at least the version of JJ she'd been the few times Ashley had met the woman.

JJ nodded and looked to Zoe. "I need you to go in the warehouse and find Spence…" JJ paused realizing the she couldn't afford for Zoe not to know who she was talking about right now, just in case. "Reid… I need you to find Reid… I just went into labor." 

Zoe's eyes grew wide; she nodded and then sprinted off into the warehouse for her own version of a manhunt. 

JJ looked at Ashley. "Have you taken your marksmanship test at the Academy yet?" JJ asked.

Ashley nodded.

"Did you pass?" JJ asked.

"With flying colors ma'am." Ashley replied in confusion. 

"Have you learned the five fundamentals of making an arrest?" JJ asked as she focused on breathing deeply and staying calm. She was trying to avoid thinking that she was going to give birth at a crime scene.

Ashley nodded. "Immobilize, control, handcuff, search, and transport." She said growing more confused. 

"Good; you're going to need to use them." JJ said as took her gun and pressed it into Ashley's hand. she turned her to cover Doyle and turned to look around for another agent. It was too dangerous to send Ashley alone, even if she had the proper training. It was also too dangerous to leave Doyle unsecured, in the open, and with a weapon. 

At that moment, one of the FBI snipers came around the corner of the building to stow his gear. 

"Excuse me" JJ called out as she waved the Agent over.

"Ma'am, what are you doing out here? You shouldn't be here… this is a crime scene." He said warily as he took in the very pregnant women before him as he pulled out his credentials and displayed them.

"I know that Agent... Parker" JJ said glancing at the name on his credentials, attempting to maintain her patience as she held up her own ID.

"I apologize, ma'am" the agent replied, instantly realizing his error as he looked back up at JJ, who was technically his superior even though she was with a different agency.

"It's alright. Do you have any weapons on you right now?" She asked as she nodded at him. 

"Just my side arm." He replied. "The only other weapon I had with me was my riffle and that's already broken down and ready to be stowed."

JJ nodded. "I need you to leave your sidearm with your gear. I'm in labor and I need you to assist Agent Seaver with taking Doyle into custody. That gun is the only weapon that's going over there." JJ said as she nodded at Ashley and then towards Doyle. "He has a weapon on his person, but he's too dangerous to potentialy introduce another weapon into the situation. He has a gunshot to his right arm, his left hand, and I think the second bullet went through to his right shoulder as well." 

The Agent nodded as he unclipped his gun from his belt checked the magazine and then handed it to JJ hand grip first with the safety on. "I'd feel better if you had a weapon to cover us from here ma'am." 

JJ nodded "Alright then, I'll keep my gun. Ashley, use his weapon to cover him." JJ said as she switched weapons with Ashley. "You're going to disarm Doyle by kicking away his gun. Then Agent Parker's going to cuff him, and search him. Okay?" JJ asked taking a deep breath as she felt the baby move. "Stay with Doyle. Once we have more Agents out here we'll worry about transporting him. He's going to need first aid."

Ashley nodded and started towards Doyle.

JJ reached out and grabbed Ashley's shoulder and halted her. She leaned in and whispered in her ear. "You have the gun; you have to go first and since I'm covering you, you need to approach from a different angle so you won't block my line of sight. I can't cover you if I can't see Doyle." JJ whispered in Ashley's ear. "You're going to do fine. Just stay calm, remember to breathe, keep your gun up, and stand in a ready stance. Don't take your eyes of Doyle."

Ashley nodded as she took several step sideways to the left and led Agent Parker to where Doyle lay.

JJ watched from a distance, focusing on making sure that Ashley and Agent Parker were covered as she waited anxiously for Zoe to find Spence. She watched as Ashley kicked the gun away from Doyle where it had fallen and then moved back so that Agent Parker could cuff him and search him and then once he'd determined that Doyle was clean, he started first aid.

About that time, Spence came running out of the back of the warehouse, followed by Morgan, Emily, and Zoe. He skidded to a stop just next to JJ as he took in where her gun was aimed. "Morgan" he nodded towards where Ashley and Agent Parker were with Doyle. 

"We got it." Morgan replied in understanding. "Come on Emily, let's go help Ashley." Morgan said as he pulled out his gun and took over covering Ashley and Agent Parker. 

Emily too pulled out her weapon as she and Morgan approached where Doyle was, down on the ground. "Zoe, come on. We'll need all the hands we can get right now." Emily said.

Zoe nodded and followed behind Emily and then set about helping Agent Parker with applying pressure to Doyle's wounds while they waited for the ambulance to get there.

JJ sagged in relief at being able to holster her weapon. 

Spence wrapped his arm around JJ once the safety of her gun was on and it was holstered. "So much for going to the hospital as soon as you're in labor this time around, huh?" Spence asked as he helped JJ walk over to the truck and helping her lean back against it. "Let me get the ambulance over here."

JJ shook her head. "Doyle is going to need the ambulance. He's got at least two gunshot wounds… probably three." She said as she took a deep breath.

"You shot him three times?" Spence asked as he looked around to see if there was an SUV nearby.

"No, just twice." JJ said as she panted. "The second shot was a through and through of his hand… I think, but I couldn't tell for sure." 

"Okay… do you think you can walk to the SUV?" Spence asked.

JJ nodded and Spence helped her stand back up. "I just want to get to the hospital and have this baby." JJ said as she and Spence made their way to the SUV.

Spence nodded and rubbed his hand across JJ's lower back as he helped his wife walk to the SUV. "I just want us to make it to the hospital before the baby decides it's time for him to make his appearance."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The team watched with smiles on their faces as JJ and Spence sat curled up together with Joshua on the jet. Looking at the scene in front of them, it was hard to believe the terror of the last three weeks had happened.

Hotch came out of the galley with a cup of coffee and sat down in the booth next to Emily and across the aisle from where JJ and Reid were curled up on the couch with the baby. "So while you were in labor I received an interesting phone call." Hotch said.

"Oh?" JJ asked puzzled.

"It seems that you stopping Doyle and taking charge of the situation really impressed some higher ups. They're giving you your choice of assignment to any job you want, within a certain set of guidelines, of course." Hotch replied with a proud smile on his face at his former agent's recognition. "I'm sure your boss at the Pentagon will have the full details for you. I was just asked to let you know so that you could start thinking about where you'd like to be assigned."

A large grin lit up JJ's face and she turned to look at Spence, making eye contact with him. Spence knew exactly what JJ was asking with her eyes, and nodded in agreement. After all, he'd always told JJ that he fully supported her in her career, whatever she decided; he just wanted her to be happy.

"That's easy," JJ said as she turned back to look at Hotch, "and I don't really have to even think about it. I want to be back with the BAU."

Hotch smiled faltered. "I'm sorry JJ, but they aren't going to let you take a demotion to rejoin the team." Hotch said sadly.

Rossi shook his head. Leave it to the SOBs in charge, the PTBs to decide that you could have anything you want… just not what you really want. Then an evil grin spread across his face. "Hotch, would a profiler be considered a step up in pay grade for JJ?"

Hotch wrinkled his brown in thought. "Yes… it would." he said slowly, unsure if that was what JJ wanted to do.

Rossi turned back to look at JJ. "How would you feel about being a profiler? I think between Jason, the rest of the team, and I, we can get you up to speed in no time."

JJ glanced at Spence.

"I support you, whatever you want to do JJ." He replied as he gently squeezed his arm around her.

JJ looked back at Hotch. "I know I've always told you I liked my job as the liaison for the team, but if being a profiler means being back on the team, then I'm in."

"Well then, welcome back to the BAU Agent Jareau." Hotch replied with a smile. "We can work out the details later. For right now, you should just enjoy your maternity leave." Hotch said with a smile as Joshua grunted and kicked his legs in his Mommy's arms.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I am so looking forward to sleeping in our own bed again." Emily said as she unlocked the door to the condo with a sleeping baby Seth on her shoulder.

Hotch nodded his agreement as he followed her in the door with a sleeping Avery on one shoulder and two diaper bags over his other shoulder. He'd go down and get the rest of their things once they had the kids settled.

Avery and Seth had been very excited to see Mommy and Daddy, but their excitement wore them out. They'd crashed in the car on the way home from Nana and Papa's house.

Emily sighed as she collapsed back onto the couch and stretched out her legs on the ottoman. "It feels so good to be home and to not have Doyle hanging over our heads."

Aaron sat down next to Emily and rested his arm along the back of the couch behind her. "I agree. What's going to happen to Doyle, now that Clyde and Sean took him into the custody of Interpol?"

"They decided to put him in the Supermax unit in Red Onion, at least for now." Emily replied as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder.

"Are you going to be okay with him being that close to us?" Aaron asked.

Emily shrugged. "It's at the other end of the state, and all of his known associates are dead. He's in a maximum security prison, so that's really the best we can ask for right now."

Aaron nodded, knowing how much it had bothered her that even someone like Ian Doyle was sent to Camp 22 in North Korea.

"So, I've been thinking," Emily said as she twisted in her seat to look at Aaron. "we should look at getting a house."

"Are you sure? You love this place and it has a great view." Aaron said as he pointed to the wall of windows that showed off the panoramic view of the National Mall, including the United States Capitol building, the Washington Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.

Emily smiled as she remembered all the times that she and Aaron had spent looking out at the view together while they were dating. "I am. I love this place, but we need more room, and the kids need a yard to play in now that Jack and Avery are older, and Seth will be starting to walk soon."

Hotch smiled and leaned down to kiss Emily. "Alright then, we'll buy a house."

 

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Jake giggled wildly as he and his Daddy play wrestled with Clooney on the living room floor. Clooney lay peacefully and contentedly on the floor as Jake climbed on his back and tried to ride him like a horse. His only response as Jake attempted to gallop on his back was to let out a long sigh.

Morgan shook his head and scratched Clooney behind the ears. "You sure put up with a lot don't you boy?" he asked as he continued to pet and scratch the dog's head while he reached over with his other hand and scooped Jake off of poor Clooney's back.

"Jake you can't do that." he said as he settled his son in his lap.

"Cooney" Jake screeched as he reached out towards the beloved family dog.

"Yeah Clooney's your bud isn't he?"

Jake nodded his head as he leaned forward to attempt to reach Clooney.

"You have to be nice to Clooney. You can't climb on him, okay? Just pet him okay?"

"Tay" Jake said as he held his little hand out and petted Clooney on the snout. He giggled as Clooney lifted his head and pressed his cold wet nose into his hand.

"Hey, how are all my boys?" Penelope asked as she came in the room and sat on the floor beside Derek and Jake. She smiled as she watched Jake play with Clooney.

"You're boys are fine baby girl." Derek replied with a grin. Just as he was about to lean in to kiss his wife, his son interrupted.

Jake turned from petting Clooney and noticed Mommy sitting next to Daddy. "Mama!" he squealed in delight and reached out for her.

Penelope scooped Jake up in her arms and pulled him close as she gave him kisses all over his face.

Jake giggled until Mommy stopped kissing him. Then after he caught his breath he lifted his head off Mommy's shoulder and placed his hands on either side of his Mommy's face as he patted her cheeks. "Hi!" he said in his cute baby voice.

 

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"Hey cher, welcome home." Will said as he looked up from where he and Billy were seated on the floor playing.

The soon to be birthday boy squealed happily at seeing his Mommy and held out his arms to be picked up.

"Hey there's Mommy's favorite little guy." Elle said as she scooped Billy up in her arms.

"Hey, wait, what about me?" Will asked as he stood up with a pout on his face.

Elle chuckled. "Honey, there's nothing little about you." she said with a grin on her face. "You're my favorite big guy though and I missed you very much this weekend." She said with a wink at Will just before she leaned in to kiss him hello.

 

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"Hey," JJ said softly as she entered the kitchen so as not to startle Rebecca. To her surprise though, Bec wasn't alone in the kitchen.

"Oh," Anderson said as he jumped up from the table. "I should uh… get going um…"

Rebecca smiled as she stood up from her seat at the table. "Thanks for helping me out with Chloe and Henry today, Chad."

"I… uh… yeah, you're welcome." Chad replied as he glanced at JJ and then Reid who had just appeared in the doorway. "So… I'm gonna go… but I'll see you on Friday?"

Rebecca smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

Anderson turned to look at JJ and Reid and cleared his throat. "Congratulations." He said as he nodded at the baby boy in JJ's arms. "Okay… I'll uh… see you." he said flustered as he turned on his heal and headed for the door.

JJ and Spence both turned and watched as Anderson let himself out of their house. Then Spence turned and gave JJ a on the temple. "I'm going to go take a shower quick and change. Then I'll be back down." He said as he turned and carried their go bags up the stairs with him.

"Okay" JJ said as she leaned up and gave Spence a peck on the lips. She watched as Spence headed up the stairs. Then she turned to look back at Bec. "Spill."

Rebecca laughed. "Okay, okay, I will; but first let me see the baby." She said as she made a gimme motion with her hands.

JJ handed Joshua off to Bec and smiled as Rebecca looked down at her newest young charge.

"Oh I can see it right now. You are going to be a heartbreaker just like your big sister and brother." Bec cooed to the sleeping baby boy.

"Okay so now tell me what all of that was about with Anderson." JJ demanded as she and Rebecca headed for the living room.

Rebecca smiled. "Chad asked me out for dinner on Friday." She said as she sat down on the couch next to JJ.

"Really?" JJ asked.

Rebecca nodded and bit her lip.

JJ smiled. "That's great! So the two of you must have hit it off this weekend huh?"

Rebecca shook her head. "No this weekend he and the other agents were really focused on checking the house and the yard… but then after Will went home and the other agents left last night, Chad offered to stay the night again, just in case is what he said… Then this morning he offered to stay until you got home and he asked me out just a little bit before you got here."

JJ smiled as she and Rebecca sat and continued to talk, occasionally cooing over the baby for a few more minutes. Then JJ decided to go take a shower and change as well.

"Hey, how was your shower?" JJ asked as she walked into their bedroom where a wet headed fresh from the shower Spence stood in a t-shirt and lounge pants sorting the clothes in their go bags into the hamper as he unpacked them.

"It was good. What are you doing?" he asked as he glanced up at his wife.

"I realized how good shower and fresh clothes sounded." JJ said with a wicked grin on her face. Then she peeled her shirt off over her head and threw it at Spence.

"Hey" Spence's muffled voice came from behind the shirt as he pulled it off his face.

JJ laughed as she quickly dropped the rest of her clothes in the hamper and headed for a nice hot shower.

Spence shook his head and finished unpacking while JJ took a shower.

"Feel better?" Spence asked as JJ sat in the middle of their bed combing out her hair.

"Mm hm" JJ replied and leaned over and kissed Spence. As she was pulling away from his lips she heard it. "Shh listen."

Spence smiled as he listened and heard the light steps and whispering of Chloe and Henry out in the hallway. JJ and Spence both turned to look at the doorway just as Chloe and Henry made their appearance.

"Hi guys, did you have a good nap?" Daddy asked.

Henry nodded with big eyes as he looked at Mommy and Daddy. Something was different and the little boy's brain was racing as he tried to figure out what it was.

"Can we come in?" Chloe asked softly

"Sure, you can come in baby girl. Come on, you and Henry can come and cuddle on the bed with Daddy and me." JJ said as she patted a spot on the bed next to her.

"Come on Henry." Chloe said tugging on her little brother's hand as she headed towards the bed.

Henry followed behind Chloe until they reached the edge of the bed. Then Daddy lifted them up onto the bed one at a time.

Suddenly it clicked in Henry's brain what was different. "Where da baby go?" he asked as he looked at Mommy's belly as he curled up against her.

JJ chuckled that her little guy was such a smart boy. "He's down stairs with Bec… do you want to go meet him?" Mommy asked as she glanced back and forth between Chloe and Henry.

"Him hewe?" Henry asked with big eyes. "He pway with us?"

"Sorry buddy," Daddy said over the top of Chloe's head, who sat in his lap. "but, he's pretty little so it's going to be a little bit before he can play with you and Chloe."

Henry's face scrunched up as he thought. "How wittwe?"

JJ smiled at Henry's curiosity. "He's little like one of Chloe's baby dolls."

"Dat wittwe!" Henry said as he looked up at Mommy.

"Yeah it is. That's why he can't play for a while… but I bet he'd like to meet you. He'll probably even recognize you guys." JJ said with a smile.

"Can I hold him?" Chloe asked intrigued at the prospect of a live baby.

"Not by yourself, but when Daddy, Bec, or Mommy helps you, then you can." Daddy said as he looked down at Chloe.

"Okay" Chloe replied. "Can we go meet him now?"

"Sure" Daddy said lowering Chloe back onto the floor and reaching out for Henry.

"Dada, I wide?" Henry asked with a big puppy dog expression on his face.

Spence chuckled. "Sure, climb on." He said turning so that Henry could climb on his back for a piggy back ride downstairs.

Mommy held out her hand to Chloe as she stood up from the bed. "So did you have fun playing with Uncle Will and Billy this weekend sweetie?"

"Uh huh" Chloe nodded as she took Mommy's hand and they headed for the stairs. Chloe held tight to Mommy's hand as she hopped down the stairs one at a time.

"Hey guys" Rebecca smiled as she watched JJ, Spencer, Chloe, and Henry make their way down the stairs.

JJ sat down on the couch and Chloe climbed up next to her as Rebecca handed her the baby. Then Rebecca excused herself so that the family could have some time to bond with the new baby. Spence sat down in the seat Rebecca vacated and then Henry slid off his back. Spence pulled Henry into his lap.

Chloe held onto Mommy's shoulder as she knelt on her knees to get a better look at the baby. Her golden curl covered head tipped to the side as she studied him for a moment. Then she declared. "I like him."

JJ laughed. "Good, then we'll keep him." She said as she reached over and tickled Chloe's belly. "If you sit down Sweetie, you can hold him for a minute, okay?"

"Uh huh" Chloe nodded eagerly as she plopped on her butt next to Mommy.

"Wut him name?" Henry asked.

"His name is Joshua Wyatt." Spence said.

"Hi Doshiea" Henry said as he waved at his baby brother.

"No, baby boy, J-o-s-h-u-a." JJ said as she looked at Henry, drawing the name out for him to hear it better.

"Dat wut I tay. Doshiea."

JJ bit her lip to keep from laughing at her funny, smart little boy while she supported most of Joshua's weight were he rested in Chloe's arms while Henry climbed over into her lap to better be able to see the baby. Then Spence scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her as they watched their three children interact together.


	11. Chapter 11

Spence lay staring at the ceiling fighting against the insomnia that his headache was causing. He'd been attempting to fall asleep for hours. He hadn't slept more than a few hours a night for the last few days. Try as he might, it just wasn't happening, but at least JJ was curled up against him sound asleep. Luckily he had a couple of weeks off to spend with JJ, Chloe, Henry, and Joshua while they adjusted to there being a baby in the house again.

As Spence stared at the ceiling, his mind racing and his head pounding, Joshua started to stir in his bassinet. Spence tightened his grip on JJ and held her head to his bare chest as he rolled to the side, placing JJ comfortably on her back with her head resting on her pillow as he worked to slip free of JJ's embrace without waking her up.

Once he disentangled himself from JJ; he stood up and walked to the other side of the bed, bending over to pick his newborn son up out of his bassinet. "Hey Joshua let's go get you changed buddy and give Mommy a few minutes more to sleep." Spence whispered softly as he carried the baby boy across the hall to the nursery.

Joshua kicked his legs as Daddy pulled them free of his sleeper. He wasn't so sure about all of the fuzzy shapes around him… but he definitely enjoyed being able to hear all of the voices he recognized better now that he was in the bright outside place and not the dark swimmy place.

Spence undid the tabs on Joshua's diaper and swiftly removed the dirty diaper, cleaned the baby's bum, applied diaper cream and powder to protect his son's sensitive skin, and then placed a clean diaper in place. All in all, it took less than a minute… with the third go round of diapers, Spence was now a pro. He bent down put his face close to Joshua's as he wiped off his hands. Then he slipped his fingers into Joshua's grasp, giving the baby something to hold onto. "What do you think huh Joshua?" he asked softly. "Are you hungry? Should would go see Mommy?"

Joshua grunted his agreement as his eyes studied the face attached to the voice he'd come to know as Daddy over the last several months. His eyes moved from looking at Daddy's eyebrows to his hair and then to his moving lips, as he was mesmerized by the sounds coming out of them. Then he grunted softly as he kicked his legs and squirmed, his fussing getting louder. Now that he was dry and clean he wanted to be fed.

"Okay, buddy. Let's go see Mommy." Spence said as he stood up and scooped Joshua up off of the changing table and walked back across the hall to his and JJ's room. He sat down on the edge of the bed on JJ's side of the bed.

JJ moaned softly into the pillow as she felt the bed shift beside her. She opened up one eye and peeked up at Spence and Joshua. "Hey" JJ yawned as she opened her other eye and rolled onto her back. Then she scooted up to sit leaning against the headboard and started to unbutton her shirt… well actually it was Spence's shirt… her favorite purple one.

Spence's eyes followed JJ's fingers as they undid the buttons of his shirt that she was wearing. He loved when she wore his clothes. He'd spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to figure out exactly why he derived so much pleasure from such a simple thing.

JJ smirked softly as she reached out to take the baby from Spence. "Enjoying the view?" JJ asked as she settled Joshua in place.

Spence nodded his head and then shifted to lean back against the headboard next to JJ in their king size bed. He wrapped an arm around his wife as he settled in close to her. "Immensely." He responded, one of his hands rubbing against her belly, the other hand played with Joshua's foot while he took in the beautiful sight of his wife, in his shirt, breast feeding their son.

JJ sighed contentedly as she rested her head on Spence's shoulder. "You know you don't always have to be the one to get up with him…"

Spence shrugged. "You need your rest… and I was awake anyway."

JJ tilted her head to be able to see Spence. She winced at the sight of the dark circles under his eyes. "Couldn't sleep?"

Spence nodded as he buried his face in JJ's hair, enjoying closeness and comfort of the moment as they bonded with Joshua.

"Headache?" she asked.

Spence nodded again. "The last couple of days" He said softly as he wrapped his arm around underneath where JJ's held Joshua and helped to support the weight of the baby.

"You should have told me, baby." JJ said and then turned to look back down at the baby, her thumb gently rubbing over the side of the baby's head where it rested in the crook of her arm.

"I'm sorry" Spence said as he kissed her temple. "I was just trying to hold on until the appointment tomorrow."

JJ sighed. "I know… but you still should have told me. I just want to help."

"I know, but I… I just didn't want you to worry any more than you already are." Spence replied.

JJ turned her head and pressed a kiss to her husband's neck. "We'll see what Dr. Greene says tomorrow, but baby just promise me you'll let me help."

"Okay, I promise." Spence responded.

"Good, but for right now, I think Joshua wants Daddy to burp him." JJ said as she handed the baby to Spence.

"Hey Joshua, do you want Daddy to burp you?" Spence asked as the baby lay along the length of his arm.

JJ reached around Spence to the nightstand and grabbed a cloth and laid it over Spence's shoulder.

Spence lifted Joshua up to his shoulder and rubbed slow firm circles on the baby boy's back, occasionally patting.

JJ tipped her head to the side and watched Joshua's tiny little face where it rested on his Daddy's shoulder.

Then Joshua let loose with a mighty burp.

"Whoa… that was an awfully big burp for a little guy baby boy." JJ said as she used the edge of the cloth to wipe the little bit of spit up off of Joshua's chin.

Spence kept rubbing for a few minutes longer as a couple more burbs escaped. Then he handed the baby back to JJ and she settled him the crook of her other arm so he could beast feed some more.

Spence leaned down and kissed Joshua on the forehead. Then he lifted his head and softly kissed JJ. "Have I told you how much I like when you wear my clothes?" he asked as he rested his forehead against JJ's.

JJ smirked. "I know you do. That's why I do it." She said as she kissed Spence again. Then they both turned their attention back to the less than a week old baby in his Mommy's arms.

 

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JJ groaned and stretched when she woke up in bed. She fumbled behind herself with one hand, reaching for Spence. She paused, confused at finding herself in bed alone. Then she heard the sounds of hushed voices and giggling wafting up the stairs. She smiled and stretched again, feeling pretty rested for being woken up by thier hungry baby boy every two hours like clockwork. She smiled thinking about how she had a wonderful husband to thank for that.

Then she frowned, thinking about how his headaches had been preventing him from getting a full night's rest on a daily basis. Lately he needed to be pushed to the brink of exhaustion in order to sleep. The last night he'd slept through the night and woken well rested was the night they'd gotten home from Boston and capturing Doyle.

She stood up and glanced at Joshua in his bassinet to find he was sleeping peacefully. She glanced at the clock. She had just enough time take a quick shower before Joshua woke up ready for his Mommy-made breakfast.

Half an hour later, JJ and Joshua descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen where Chloe and Henry sat in their booster seats eating breakfast, while Spence stood at the stove making breakfast for himself and JJ.

"Morning Mommy" Chloe greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning sweetie; how's your breakfast?" JJ asked as she leaned down and kissed Chloe on the top of the head.

"Good" Chloe nodded causing the pigtails Daddy had pulled her blonde curls up into to bounce.

"Hi Mama!" Henry chirped from his spot next to Chloe. "Hi Doshiea" he said waving at his baby brother.

"Good morning baby boy" JJ said leaning down to kiss the only clean part of Henry's upturned sticky little face, his forehead.

Henry shook his head. "No baby. Doshiea da baby now. I big boy."

"You're right buddy. You are a big boy now." JJ said somewhat sadly at the thought of her babies growing up. Chloe was now a preschooler and Henry would be before they knew it as well. "You and Chloe are both doing such a good jobs as Mommy and Daddy's little helpers." She said as she sat down next to Chloe.

"I like to help." Chloe said with a big smile.

"I know you do sweetie, and I'm very glad because you are so helpful." JJ said with a smile at the three year old.

Chloe smiled and then continued to eat her breakfast.

Spence turned away from the stove with a plate in hand and set it down in front of his wife; then he leaned down and kissed her good morning.

"Mm" JJ moaned softly and reached up running her thumb lightly over Spence's lip as he pulled away.

"Good morning Joshua" Spence said as he took the baby from JJ. "How are you this morning huh?"

"He tan't answer you, Daddy. Babies tan't talk." Chloe said as she looked up at Daddy.

Spence chuckled. "I know he isn't going to say words Chloe, but babies like to be talked to. It's how they get to know us and the sound of our voices. Listening to you and Henry and Rebecca and Mommy and Daddy and everybody else talk is how Joshua is going to learn how to talk." He explained.

"Oh" Chloe said in understanding. "What nickie name are you going to calls Joshua?" she asked.

JJ smiled as she looked at her smart little girl who was figuring out new things every day. "What do you mean Chloe?"

Chloe swung her legs as she looked at Mommy. "You calls me sweetie and Daddy calls me princess… and you calls Henry baby boy…"

"No baby" Henry interrupted. "big boy"

JJ smiled. "Chloe wasn't calling you a baby Henry. She was just saying that was Mommy's special name for you before Joshua was born."

Chloe nodded agreeing that that was what she'd meant. "Uh huh, an Daddy calls you buddy an big guy." She said as she turned to look at her little brother.

"I wikes dat." Henry nodded.

"So whats you going to calls Joshua?" Chloe asked.

"Him has a 'pecial name too?" Henry asked.

JJ and Spence glanced at each other and then looked back at their two oldest children, their Irish twins.

"We don't know yet guys." JJ said, "Joshua will get his own nick name, but we'll figure it out later. You know nick names are special right? And that they help show how much we all love and care about each other?"

Chloe and Henry nodded in unison.

JJ smiled and glanced up at Spence and then back at her oldest babies… after all, no matter how old they got, they'd always be her babies. "So we'll think of a special name for Joshua, just like we have special names for both of you."

"Otay" Henry said, while Chloe simultaneously agreed with an "Okay"

"Baby, aren't you going to eat?" JJ asked as Spence sat down at the table next to Henry.

Spence shook his head and looked up from watching Joshua in his arms. "I already ate." He said with a smile. "Go ahead, eat." He said as he shifted Joshua in his arms and took a sip of his tea.

 

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"Cwoe an I tome wit?" Henry asked as he watched Mommy and Daddy get ready to leave while he played with the hem of his shirt.

"No buddy you and Chloe get to stay here with Bec and play." Spence said as he knelt down in front of Henry.

"But Doshiea gets a go" Henry pouted, wanting so spend the whole day with Mommy and Daddy.

"Joshua's too little to be away from Mommy for more than just a little bit." Spence said as he wrapped an arm around Henry. "Besides we're just going to doctor's office to find out about Daddy's headaches. It wouldn't be any fun for you or Chloe, that's why you get to stay here with Bec and play."

Henry tipped his head. "Him fix you owie?" he asked as he patted the side of Daddy's head. Mommy and Daddy had explained when Daddy didn't feel good over the last few months and that his head hurt.

"I hope so big guy. I hope so." Spence said as he leaned forward the kissed Henry on the side of the head. "Give Mommy a hug and a kiss. You'll be so busy playing, that we'll be back before you know it."

Henry hopped over to Mommy where she knelt saying bye bye to Chloe and then he gave her a loud kiss on the cheek and a big hug while Chloe skipped over to say bye bye to Daddy.

Rebecca smiled as she stood with Joshua in her arms, watching her two oldest charges say goodbye to their Mommy and Daddy. Then she handed the baby to JJ as she stood up from saying goodbye to Henry.

JJ settled Joshua in his car seat and draped his baby blanket over him to ward of the chill in the early spring air. Then Spence picked up the car seat and they were out the door.

"Okay guys" Rebecca said as she looked down at Chloe and Henry "what should we do?" She smiled as Chloe and Henry both rambled off all of the things they wanted to do that day.

 

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"Hello," Dr. Green said to JJ and Spencer as he entered his office where they sat waiting for him, "and who is this little guy?" The doctor said with a smile as he glanced at the chair next to JJ where Joshua was sleeping in his carrier.

JJ nodded. "This is Joshua."

Dr. Green smiled. "He's a handsome boy. Congratulations. Rachel wanted me to tell you congratulations as well. She's looking forward to seeing you both in a couple weeks for your checkups." Then he paused as he opened some files on his desk. He turned and looked at Spencer. "I want you to know that I spent quite a bit of time looking over your test results, as well as comparing your MRI results with all of the previous MRI results from your case."

Spence took a deep breath as JJ reached over and slipped her hand into his. He was scared about what he was about to be told. He was afraid of being told that it was psychosomatic, that it was all in his head; but he was also afraid of being told that it was a life threatening physical ailment.

JJ squeezed Spence's hand, her eyes never leaving the doctor's face as she looked for a tell, something, anything, that would let her know if they were about to hear good news or bad news.

Dr. Ryan Green had after several years as a doctor, and his experiences sharing both good news and bad news with families developed an unreadable expression when delivering a diagnosis. Although his friends had come to dread it when playing poker against him, it had worked well in his line of work. He was able to deliver diagnosis without patients planning either their final days or what they would do now that they knew they were going to be all right. A patient's diagnosis was a serious thing, and he wanted to know that he had their complete and undivided attention.

"I want to show you something." The doctor said as he turned his computer monitor so that it could be seen by JJ and Spencer. Then he typed on the keyboard and three images of Spence's brain came up side by side on the monitor. "These are the MRIs that were taken." He said as he pointed to the MRIs on the screen.

"Everything is normal in all of the MRIs with respect to all four lobes in both hemispheres of the brain as well as the meninges." He said as tapped the keyboard and rotated the images.

"So you didn't find anything either." Spence said as he looked at the images of his brain on the screen.

"On the contrary, I did find something." Dr. Green said as he continued to rotate the images through various angles on the screen until he found the angle that he was looking for. "There are a few reasons it might not have been found before. It wasn't within the larger mass of the brain." Dr. Green said as he pointed at the images of the underneath side of Spence's brain. "It could have been missed due to the slightly more difficult to see angle, or it could have been because this is a rather uncommon diagnosis," the doctor continued as he glanced at Spencer and JJ.

Then he changed the view on the monitor to only be of the most recent MRI and changed it to be full size on the screen so that what he was about to show them could be easily seen. "This," he pointed to a small spot on the screen and then used the keyboard to zoom in, enlarging the image so that it would easier to see, "is your pineal gland" he said as he pointed to the small gland tucked into a groove where the two hemispheres of Spencer's brain met. "In an actual size MRI of your brain, the pineal gland would be incredibly difficult to see. It's about the size of a grain of rice. Your pineal gland, as you may or may not know is part of your epithalamus and is responsible for the production of melatonin. Melatonin affects the modulation of circadian rhythms, most prominently the sleep-wake pattern." He glanced at JJ and Spencer to make sure they were following his explanation so far.

Then he pointed to a small round mass towards the backside of the pineal gland. "This," Dr. Green continued as he pointed at the mass, that was about one third the size of the pineal gland, located at the base of Spencer's brain where the brain met the spinal cord. "is a pineal cyst."

It brought back to JJ just how fragile life was that something so small could cause all of the issues that it had for Spence. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand, relieved that her husband's worst fears were put to rest.

Spence's shoulders sagged in relief. The last few months of wondering, worrying, and waiting were over. Now they could treat the cause of his headaches. Relief surged through him at the prospect that he would not lose himself in his own mind.

Dr. Green momentarily dropped the mask of professionalism and allowed a slight smile to cross his face at the relief washing over the young couple in front of him. "The increased pressure from the cyst, combined with it acting on your pineal gland is what is causing your symptoms. I'd like for us to avoid surgery if at all possible." Dr. Green said as he pulled out a prescription pad. "Are you on any medications?"

Spence shook his head. "No"

"Alrigh,t" Dr. Green replied. "then I'm writing you a prescription for a diuretic. I'm hoping that will reduce the fluid in the cyst. If it works, that should relieve the pressure causing the headaches, and allow your pineal gland to begin normal production of melatonin again." He said as he scribbled out the script and handed it across the desk to Spencer. "Do you have any questions?"

Spence looked down at the prescription in his hand, at JJ, and then back at the doctor. "What if this doesn't work?"

"Then we have a couple other options." Dr. Green replied. "We could try using a shunt to drain the cyst; however, if the drugs don't work, then I recommend surgery over using the shunt. The surgery is minimally invasive. It would involve the use of a microscopic endoscope and a navigation system. I'd access the pineal gland from beneath your brain, so it wouldn't affect your brain at all. You'd need a six to eight week recovery time. However, like I said, I'd prefer to avoid surgery if at all possible."

"Thank you Dr." Spence said as he stood up from his chair, the light of hope shining in his eyes as the thought of eminent relief from the ongoing headaches of the last few months.

JJ smiled as she stood and shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you very much."

"You're very welcome." Dr. Green smiled. "I'm glad we were able to figure out the cause, now we just need to fix it. I want you to schedule an appointment for a month to six weeks from now so that we can take a look at if the drugs are having an effect on the size of the cyst." He said as he walked the Reids out to the reception area of his office.

 

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The team smiled, each remembering when they were in Ashley and Zoe's place up on the stage, having just finished training, graduating, being sworn in, and receiving their badges, credentials, and bureau assigned firearms.

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God" The graduating class from the FBI Academy said as they took their oath and were sworn in by the Director of the FBI, Jack Fickler.

When the Director handed Zoe and then Ashley their badges and credentials, a large cheering section consisting of the BAU whistled, clapped, and cheered for them.

 

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"Congratulation Agent Seaver and Agent Hawkes!" The team cheered as Ashley and Zoe walked into the round table room for the morning briefing the day after their graduation.

Ashley and Zoe grinned as they walked into the room.

"Thanks for coming to our graduation. It meant a lot." Ashley said.

Zoe nodded in agreement. "My Mom said to tell you all thank you for making her feel so welcomed. She appreciated getting to meet all of the people I've been telling her about for the last few months."

The team grinned, thankful that they'd met Mrs. Hawkes when she came to see her daughter's graduation from the Academy instead of having met her in the course of investigating her daughter's murder a few years ago in Cleveland.

"So who wants cupcakes?" Penelope asked as she unveiled a container of homemade cupcakes that spelled out 'Congratulations Graduates'.

"Totally worth the extra 20 minutes on the treadmill over lunch." Elle said as she picked a cupcake up out of the container after Ashley and Zoe had first pick.

"Only 20 minutes?" Morgan asked.

Emily laughed. "Just how much time do you spend on the treadmill after baked goods in order to keep your girlish figure Morgan?"

"None, I have a much more effective way to work off the baked goods." Morgan said and then wiggled his eyebrows.

Rossi smirked and chuckled as he watched Penelope smack Morgan on the shoulder while the rest of the team laughed.

Hotch grinned and shook his head, glad the dark days living in the shadow of Ian Doyle were over. "Agent Seaver and Agent Hawkes will be staying with us just a little bit longer. All of the graduates have been temporarily assigned to their training teams while their permanent assignments are worked out. Garcia?" Hotch said as he turned to look at Penelope and direct the focus back to their morning briefing.

"Oh, yes. We're going to Portland Oregon and it's not for a Dead Moon concert." Penelope said as she turned on the monitor and started to brief the team on the case.

"So, Jay Johnson, a DJ, was cutting through an alley on his way home after leaving a club when he was bludgeoned by a pipe and then stabbed 31 times. His watch, his cell, and his computer were stolen. That was two days ago. Now early this morning Karen Heywood, a 30 year old nurse, she died during a home invasion," Penelope said as she laid out the details of the case for the team, "she was stabbed 40 times, but first she was bludgeoned with weapons of opportunity." Penelope explained, flustered as she didn't know how else to describe the way that Karen Heywood was beaten by the all of the various items.

 

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"There's extreme overkill in both" Morgan said as the team looked over the files and discussed the case on the jet.

"Overkill usually implies a personal relationship." Ashley said as she turned to look at Hotch.

Hotch glanced from the files to Ashley, "Or it can mean the victim represents someone for whom the killer has extreme anger."

"These unsubs are night owls stalking and killing other night owls." Rossi said as he turned to look at Reid.

"And they're also disorganized. In one they subdued their victim by hitting him with a pipe found at the scene. In the other they use a knife followed by 7 other items found in the kitchen." Reid said as he closed his files.

"A doorstop, even a ceramic cat," Ashley said as she held up a photo of the bloodied ceramic cat from the most recent crime scene at Karen Heywood's home. "All of this just to steal?"

"They're evolving, that's for sure." Elle said as she laid the photos of the crime scenes out next to each other.

Emily nodded as she looked at the photos with Elle. "I'll say. They went from killing out in the open to invading someone's home."

"When a gang mentality sets in, unsubs become more capable of heinous acts." Rossi replied.

"It's just odd. The incidence of robbery is so low in this area." Ashley said as she looked around at the team.

"Especially when you consider how little was taken from the house." Zoe added. "That time of night they should have been able to get much more than a computer, a picture of a lily, the jewelry… I know we're thinking they were after pawnable quick cash items… but then why not at least steal a TV, or a stereo?"

Reid nodded and reached for his ever present map. "I was puzzled by the low robberies in the area as well, that's why I started working a geographical profile." He said as he spread out the map for the rest of the team to see.

"First things first, I factored in journey to crime distance. If you'll look here," Reid said as he held up the map so the team could see. "you'll see that this area of Portland is well within the expected 5 mile radius. I also factored in distance of decay."

"Uh, what does distance have to do with decay?" Ashley asked.

"Distance decay is a geographical term. It explains the effect of distance on spatial relations. All things are related, but near things are more related than far things." Zoe said remembering back to her criminology classes. "It can be used to measure the relative probability that something will happen, like an unsub traveling outside his comfort zone."

"Very good" Rossi said as he turned to look at Zoe.

"All those charts, graphs, and studying data in criminology class had to come in handy sometime right?" Zoe asked with a smile.

Hotch nodded. "Unsubs prefer to stay in an area that they know well."

"Like your commute to work, or to the gym." Morgan added to make it a bit more applicable to their everyday lives.

"The closer the crime scenes, the greater the likelihood that unsub lives or works nearby." Hotch explained.

"Based on my algorithm, the unsubs either live or work in this area." Reid said pointing to the area of the map where circles surrounding the crimes scenes overlapped.

Hotch nodded as he looked down at the map. "Reid, you and Ashley go and check out the first crime scene. Morgan, you and Zoe go and talk to grocery store where Karen Heywood was last scene. Dave and I will go to Karen Heywood's house to see the second crime scene." Hotch said as he glanced around at the team. "Emily and Elle, can you please get us set up at the precinct and see what other angles we've to work off of?"

 

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Elle and Emily worked to get the evidence board set up, as well as calling Garcia to see if she'd had any luck tracking down any of the pawnable items or finding any common connections between the victims.

Elle hung up her phone from talking to Penelope and turned to look at Emily as she lined evidence up on the board. "Hey, how are you doing, really?"

Emily turned to look at Elle just after tacking the photo of Karen Heywood's stabbed body to the board. "Do you ever feel like you dodged a bullet?"

Elle raised an eyebrow at Emily and just looked at her for a long moment before asking, "Really?"

Then Emily realized what she had just asked Elle and shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "Right, sorry."

"No, it's okay. I've learned to laugh about it now. Although," Elle paused to glance around to make sure she and Emily were alone. "after JJ and Reid first told us, it really creeped me out. Now, the way I see it, how often are we forced to look at our own mortality in the face of what could have happened?"

Emily nodded, not even wanting to contemplate the alternative.

 

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A short while later the team met back at the precinct to begin piecing together the profile based on what they'd discovered.

Reid and Ashley had narrowed the members of the group's age down to them being in their mid-twenties based on the environment the club provided. Drug paraphernalia showed the alley way next to the club to be a drug corridor. The unsubs being on drugs explained the extreme overkill with the victims.

Hotch and Rossi however discovered the same shoe print repeated over and over again around the crime scene in Karen Heywood's kitchen. With killers as unorganized as their unsubs, they wouldn't be organized enough to all wear the same shoe, which could mean only one thing. They weren't dealing with a group of unsubs; they were dealing with one very erratic killer.

Morgan and Zoe learned about the 'weird' guy who talked to Karen Heywood at the grocery store. He'd been mumbling to himself and swatting the air like someone was bugging him.

The team had reached the conclusion that the person they were looking for was most likely a drug addict as it explained the strange items that were taken from Karen Heywood's home, the erratic pattern in the stabbings, and the overkill.

"So where does all of this leave us?" Zoe asked as the team stood in the precinct going over everything they'd found out that day.

"Unfortunately we don't have a solid enough profile." Hotch replied.

"So there's nothing we can do?" Zoe replied.

"We've done what we can with the information that we have. We'll just have to wait for more. That sad fact is that sometimes it takes another victim to solve the case." Rossi explained.

Hotch nodded solemnly. "We should get to the hotel and get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be an early day."

Morgan turned to look at Reid as the team grabbed their things to head for the hotel. He waited back with Reid until most of the team had already headed out of the precinct. Just he, Emily, and Reid remained. "You alright pretty boy? You don't look like you're feeling so hot."

Emily glanced at Reid questioningly.

Reid sighed as he slung his messenger bag over his head and let the strap fall against his chest. "I've been having headaches, really intense headaches." He said as he stuffed his head in his pockets.

"Are you going to be okay?" Emily asked.

"Have you seen a doctor?" Morgan asked at the same time.

A smile twitched across Reid's lip at his friends' concern. "I have seen a doctor… several of them actually." Reid said as he glanced at Morgan. "They determined that I have a pineal cyst, so I think I'm going to be okay." He said quietly as he turned to look at Emily as he held the door of the precinct open for her while she exited.

"The doctor prescribed some medication to help reduce the cyst, but I can't sleep at night. I'm having trouble focusing on our cases…" Reid said, explaining his condition as they headed for one of the SUVs.

"Well hang in there man. You know we're all in your corner and that if you and JJ need anything, all you have to do is ask." Morgan said as he paused in front of the SUV.

"Thanks… but for now, could you guys just not tell everybody else? I just… they worry, you know?" Reid said.

Morgan nodded.

Emily squeezed Reid's shoulder. "I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks" Reid replied as he moved the passenger side of the SUV and climbed in. He just wanted to get back to the hotel for right now so that he could talk to his wife and hopefully get a few hours of sleep. He wasn't going to hold his breath though.

Morgan and Emily exchanged a concerned glance for their friend and younger 'brother' over the hood of the SUV.

 

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The next morning led to the team being informed of another murder that had the distinctive appearance of their unsubs methods. So with little more than coffee to start their day, the team was on the move.

Rossi had been right in that another victim had given them more to work with… it gave them the profile that they shared with the Portland PD in the hopes that they could catch this unsub before there was another victim.

"What is it Reid?" Hotch asked as he walked up to where Reid was studying the evidence board and the map. He'd long ago learned to recognize the thoughtful expression on the young genius' face.

"Our unsub's hallucinations aren't fractured like a typical schizophrenic's. They're vivid and clear, leading me to believe that we're missing an important variable." Reid said as stared at the evidence board, as if waiting for it to tell him the secret.

Hotch nodded as he glanced at the evidence board. If Reid thought they were missing something, then they most definitely were. The key to solving the case was going to be figuring it out. He turned and headed to see how things were coming along with the local officers and their canvassing of the area Reid had identified in his geographical profile.

 

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"Hi baby" JJ murmured and then yawned as she answered the phone. She'd just placed a sleeping Joshua in his bassinet.

"Hi… you sound tired." Spence replied.

"Mm hm" JJ yawned again. "How's the case going?"

"We're getting closer. Morgan and I just met with a priest that was able to tell us about how his mother took him to a church to have an exorcism done when he was a child and there was something about a fire… but there's still something we're missing… I just can't figure it out." Spence replied.

"How are you feeling? Have you managed to get any sleep?" JJ asked in a concerned tone of voice. Even though they knew what was wrong now, JJ was worried Spence was going to drop from exhaustion before the medication had an opportunity to work properly.

"No… but hopefully this case will be over soon. I always rest better at the end of a case." Spence said as he leaned back in his chair at the precinct.

"I hope so baby. I'm really worried about the insomnia you have from the cyst. You need to be able to sleep to get better. Maybe we could…" JJ trailed off as Spence interrupted her.

"That's it!" Spence cried out as he sat back up in the chair. "JJ, you're brilliant. I love you. I'll call you as soon as we have this wrapped up. Give the kids a good night kiss from me." He said as he hung up his phone.

JJ glanced down at her phone and shook her head. It wasn't the first time she inspired an epiphany in her husband's genius brain, and it probably wouldn't be the last. She laid her phone back down on the nightstand as she leaned over and placed a kiss on Joshua's forehead. "That's from Daddy baby boy… hopefully he'll be home soon." Then she stood up to go check on Chloe and Henry and give them their good night kiss from Daddy.

"Reid, what is it?" Elle asked as she watched Reid hang up the phone from talking to JJ.

"Insomnia… the unsub has insomnia. Did you notice that each victim has more stab wounds than the last?" Reid asked as he looked around at the team. "Do you know how physically exhausting it would be to stab someone 31 times… 40 times…he'd be completely worn-out. The stuttering, it's more pronounced when he hasn't slept. That's why the priest heard him stutter, but the clerk at the grocery store didn't. The insomnia makes the visions more clear and sleep is the only release he has from them… "

 

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"He's not here." Hotch said as the team cleared Ben Foster's apartment.

"What do you want to do Hotch?" Morgan as he looked around at the meager surroundings in the sparsely furnished apartment.

"We've really only got one option." Hotch said as he turned to look at Rossi. "We need to get the patrol cars out of here… we don't want to spook him when he comes back here. He could be anywhere right now, but eventually he will come back here, and when he does, we'll be waiting for him."

Rossi nodded and headed out to get the clear the street in front of Ben Foster's apartment.

It was morning when a well-rested and blood covered Ben Foster opened the door of his apartment and was promptly slammed to the floor and handcuffed while being read his Miranda rights.

 

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"Feel a little better after your nap on the plane man?" Morgan asked Reid as they headed for their cars in the parking garage to head home.

"Yeah, a little bit." Reid said with a nod.

Morgan nodded. "You know Penelope has a theater thing this weekend. How about we spend some guy time together? How do you feel about hockey?"

"Hockey? I don't really know anything about hockey." Reid said as he opened up the driver's side door of his car.

Morgan shrugged. "So I'll teach you. Jake can play with Henry and Chloe. It'll be great."

 

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Spence watched puzzled as the Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils skated around in what to him appeared to be an aimless manner on the screen of the TV while Morgan cheered.

Jake, true to his mother's prediction weeks ago, wasn't able to sit still with Daddy long enough to watch more than a few minutes at a time of the hockey game before he became bored. He and Henry were on the floor playing with blocks and cars. The two little boys who were just over 7 months apart in age always got along well when they played together.

"Yes" Morgan said, throwing his arms up in the air as the Capitals scored a goal. "See, I told you this was a great sport, didn't I?" he said as he turned to look at Reid.

"Yeah… I just don't get it." Reid said as he turned to look at Morgan.

"It's pretty simple Reid. They skate around on the ice and try and put the puck in the other team's net."

"Yeah… but why do they keep stopping like that" Reid said nodding to the screen where a face off was happening. "and I'm confused by what all the lines on the ice mean."

"Reid, JJ taught you about football. This really isn't all that more difficult than learning about how football is played."

"Yeah, but JJ was able to provide me with an incentive to learn that you can't… well I suppose you could, but I'm really not interested." Reid replied with a large grin. "No offense, but I'm just not interested in that sort of incentive from anyone but my wife."

"You mean…" Morgan paused and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, remembering the little ears in the room that were at an age when they remembered everything they heard.

Reid raised his eyebrow at Morgan and nodded. Then he smirked as he watched his friend fall back in his chair speechless.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" JJ asked as she came down the stairs with Joshua in her arms and Chloe at her heels.

Chloe headed over to see what Jake and Henry were doing while JJ laid a sleeping, but freshly bathed baby boy in his bassinet.

"Morgan was trying to explain hockey to me." Spence said as he looked up at JJ as she made her way over to him.

"How's that going?" JJ asked with a smile as she seated herself in Spence's lap.

Spence chuckled. "He actually was just asking me how you managed to teach me football since I can't seem to grasp hockey." He said as he wrapped an arm around JJ's waist and pulled her close.

JJ laughed and leaned down to peck Spence softly on the lips.

"It's not funny." Morgan said as he pouted about not having been able to teach Reid hockey so that he'd have someone to watch with occasionally.

JJ laughed again. "Right, because you wouldn't learn how to needle point or knit if Pen offered you the right incentive."

Morgan sighed and took a sip of his beer and then leaned back in his chair. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed JJ leaning down to whisper in Reid's ear. Yeah… he could totally admit to the fact that he learn whatever his baby girl asked him to… he just hope JJ didn't mention this to her… he really had no interest in knitting, needle point, or crocheting... then again with the right incentive...


	12. Chapter 12

"Shhh… I know baby, I know." JJ said talking to Joshua as he fussed on the changing table and kicked his legs as Mommy put a fresh diaper on him.

She bent his arms up as she wrapped the blanket over his belly and tucked it into under his shoulder; then she repeated it with the other side as she swaddled him up. "You like that huh baby boy? Does this feel better huh?" she asked as she lifted the bottom of the blanket up, making sure to leave enough room so that Joshua would be able to kick his legs and wrapped that around him as well. "There, all done." She said smiling at Joshua as he happily sucked on his fingers now that he was all swaddled up.

"Let's go see what Daddy, Chloe, and Henry are doing." JJ said as she picked up Joshua and cradled him in her arms as she headed out of the nursery and downstairs.

"Hi guys" JJ said as she walked into the living room and sat down next to Spence on the couch.

"Hi" Spence replied and leaned in to kiss her hello. Then he leaned down and kissed Joshua on the forehead. "Hey buddy."

Chloe and Henry stopped playing with their toys and wandered over to say hi to Mommy and their baby brother.

Chloe climbed up on the couch next to Mommy and just watched her baby brother.

JJ smiled as she wrapped an arm around Chloe and rubbed her back. At three, Chloe was mesmerized for several minutes at a time by her baby brother who looked just like one of her baby dolls. "Hi sweetie."

"Hi Mommy" Chloe replied, never breaking her gaze from her baby brother. "Mommy why is Joshua all wrapped up wike that?"

"Well, this is called swaddling. It makes Joshua feel safe and warm. He still isn't quite used to being outside Mommy's tummy so this helps remind him of what that felt like."

"Oh" Chloe replied and nodded.

"Here Doshiea" Henry said as he climbed into Daddy's lap and thrust a stuffed dinosaur towards his baby brother.

Mommy took the stuffed dinosaur from Henry. "What's this for ba… big boy?" JJ asked, catching herself just as she was about to call Henry baby.

"It to Doshiea tan pway dinotaurs wit me." Henry explained eagerly.

JJ smiled at the adorableness of their little boy. "That's very nice of you Henry. You're a very good big brother, but it's going to be a while yet before Joshua can play dinosaurs with you."

"Oh" Henry replied sadly. "We pway dinotaurs tomowwow?" he asked.

"No it will be longer than tomorrow Henry." JJ replied. "Joshua is too little right now. He needs lots of sleep because he's growing. In a couple of months though, he'll be able to stay awake longer and I bet he'll love playing with you and Chloe."

"Otay" Henry sighed sadly at losing the playmate that he thought he was going to have for the afternoon. Chloe was fun, but she didn't like dinosaurs. She always wanted him to play house or dolls and he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. He liked dinosaurs, and trucks.

"Do you want you dinosaur back?" Mommy asked as she held Henry's stuffed dinosaur out to him.

"No Doshiea teep it." Henry said as he shook his head. "Den we pway when he bigger."

"Are you sure?" Daddy asked. "That's your triceratops. I though he was your favorite."

"He is, but he teep Doshiea tompany 'til we tan pway. Den I 'tare aww my dinotaurs." Henry replied.

JJ smiled proudly at Henry for being such a generous little boy. "That's very sweet of you Henry. I'm sure that Joshua will love having your dinosaur to keep him company until he's big enough to play with you."

"Tell you what big guy, how about if Daddy plays dinosaurs with you today?" Spence asked.

"Weawwy?" Henry asked with big eyes as he looked up at Daddy.

"Sure, for a little while." Spence replied.

"Otay!" Henry replied, excited that he was going to get to play dinosaurs with Daddy. Daddy made the best roar sounds for all the different dinosaurs. He scrambled down from Daddy's lap and headed over to his dinosaurs.

JJ glanced down at Chloe. "How about we have a tea party sweetie?" JJ asked.

"What 'bout Joshua?" Chloe asked as she looked up at Mommy.

"Joshua is asleep for right now so I'll put him in his bassinet and then you and I can play." JJ said as she leaned down to kiss Chloe on the top of the head.

"Okay!" Chloe exclaimed and then scrambled off the couch to go set up for a tea party with Mommy.

Spence turned to look at JJ. "Have fun with your tea party." He said with a light smirk on his face as he helped her to her feet.

JJ smiled sweetly at her husband as she stood in front of him. "I will baby. You have fun playing dinosaurs." She whispered against his lips as she leaned up on her tippy toes with Joshua in her arms. She quickly closed the distance and gave Spence a quick peck on the lips.

 

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"Baby girl, this doesn't even look good." Derek said as he held up the crooked and oddly gapped beginnings of a scarf.

Penelope giggled. "Not as easy as it looks huh hot stuff?"

Derek glared down at the knitting needles in his lap. "No, no its not… how is this even relaxing for you?"

"Well I've been doing it so long that I don't really have to think about it anymore for the most part." Penelope replied as she held up the project that she was working on to show it to her husband in all its detailed glory.

"Okay, now see that just isn't fair." Derek said as he looked back and forth between Penelope's project and his own.

"Aww… Don't be discouraged D. It took me years to be able to do this… and trust me, my first few projects looked a lot worse than that." Penelope said as she sat her own project off to the side.

"Thanks baby girl…. I think." Derek replied as he looked at the hideously awkward mass of yarn that his attempt at a scarf consisted of.

"Besides, you are trying my chocolate god…" Penelope said as she took the beginnings of the scarf, the ball of yarn, and the knitting needles out of her husband's hands and lap, "and that definitely deserves to be rewarded." She said as she set everything off to the side and then scooted closer to Derek and leaned in and kissed him.

"Mmm" Derek moaned as Penelope sucked on his lower lip. "I like the way you think baby girl." Derek growled as he deepened the kiss and lowered Penelope back on the couch and hovered above her.

"Oh baby boy, I think it time for much more than thinking. I think it's time for show and tell." Penelope said as she worked to pull her husband's t-shirt up his torso. Then she squealed and giggled at the feeling of Derek's goatee on her tender skin as he placed random kisses on her neck and worked his way down to her chest and cleavage.

"I am fine with that baby girl, as long as we're taking turns." Derek told his wife as he continued to place random kisses.

 

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"I have hundreds of teal wagons" Penelope said as she removed her tea leaves from her cup while speaking over the phone with the team who were in Tampa Bay working on a case where a woman had walked into a gun shop and shot down the gun shop owner and four other customers in the store that morning. The case had quickly spiraled from there, "none of the registrations match the physical description of our unsub."

"What about the gun store?" Morgan asked as he walked back across the conference room they were working in from filling up his cup of coffee.

"Mm" Penelope replied as she took a sip of tea, "and then there's that. I searched the entire history of Larry's Gun Shop. Nothing of significance has ever happened there aside from this morning's massacre. And on top of that, you know those 600 plus registered .38 owners? They bought them all over the city, so we're pretty much screwed unless you can think of some other kind of connection." Penelope said speaking more quickly with each word as the caffeine took hold in her system.

"Then the date only means something to her." Ashley said as she looked around the conference room table at the rest of the team.

"Penelope we profiled that it was a major loss. Run accident reports, look for young victims." Morgan said as he swung back and forth in his chair.

"She seems to be going after heroes." Reid added.

"Okay, you guys I'm doing that now, but this will take foooorever." Penelope said as she simultaneously sighed in frustration. "Tampa's got almost half a million people. Everybody's got a story. How'm I even supposed to…" Penelope continued trailing off as the results of her search parameters popped up in a window on her screen. "Oh"

"Oh?" Ashley asked as she shifted in her seat.

"Oh sounds promising." Elle said as she leaned forward in her seat.

Emily nodded. "Oh is usually followed by PG wowing us with her tech goddess skills." She said with a small smile.

"Well, then I guess we like 'oh'" Zoe added with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…. My super skills just squelched my pessimism." Penelope replied as she took in the details of the accident currently on her screen. "I have a couple of accidents here that happened in the last few years that happened on or around today's date. Please hold while I deduce." She explained as she flipped through a few screens. "Oh, this looks promising. Okay, there was a high speed traffic chase in West Tampa last year, a policeman was killed."

"Who were they chasing?" Morgan asked.

"Uh, Hanley Waters" Penelope replied.

"Maybe he's the target?" Morgan suggested.

"No, he's in jail. He started a whole mess cause he decided to do an armed robbery at a liquor store and then have a high speed chase with the cops. Oh there's video. It's 365 days ago to the dot." Penelope continued as she watched the video on her monitor. "I'm sending this to your tablets. Observe and prepare yourself."

The team watched on the tablets as Hanley Waters' car t-boned another vehicle in the middle of an intersection.

"Who was it that got hit?" Hotch asked.

"Tampa mom Shelley Chamberlain." Penelope said as she looked through all of the notes regarding the incident. "She was unhurt…" Then Penelope gasped as she read the next line, "her six year old Damian died."

Ashley nodded, "That's her."

"Oh, and today is Damian's birthday." Penelope said as she pulled up Damian's death certificate.

"Your son enters and leaves your life on the same date. That's one hell of a stressor." Rossi said, speaking from personal experience.

"Explains why she went on her spree today. All her good and bad memories are hitting her at once." Morgan said.

"And to add salt to it all, the fallen policeman was the only one who got any attention. Damian was like a footnote."

"If Shelley Chamberlain is our unsub and the man caused this is in jail, then who's her target?" Reid asked.

Elle couldn't help but feel for Shelley Chamberlain. As the others sat discussing the Elle couldn't help but think of her own son's birthday just last month.

It had been a small affair. They'd wrapped up the Ian Doyle debacle just a few days earlier and then waited at the hospital in Boston as JJ gave birth to Joshua. Billy and Joshua were now just a few days shy of being exactly a year apart in age. 

"Hahahahahaha" Will chortled as Billy, his boy, his son, gleefully fisted his blue Cookie Monster birthday cake between his fingers. 

The youngest LaMontagne was covered head to toe with blue icing. His round little baby face was blue, his tongue was blue, his hands and arms were blue. There was blue frosting up his nose and in his ears. Somehow Billy had managed to get blue frosting on his little toes where they peaked out from under the tray of his high chair. His hair stood straight up on end due to the amount of 'Cookie Monster blue' frosting coating his short dark locks that looked so much like his father's.

"I told you that a blue Cookie Monster birthday cake for Billy's first birthday was a bad idea Will." Elle told her husband.

"Boys will be boys cher. 'Sides, it's a rite of passage for a one year old to smear his birthday cake all over himself ain't it? Let's just enjoy the moment cher." Will whispered in his wife's ear as he wrapped his arm around her.

Elle sighed as she leaned back against Will's chest and then she laughed. Her son did look really cute; even if he was going to need to be thoroughly scrubbed down to get all of the blue out of his hair and off his skin. "Just so we're clear. You're giving him his bath tonight." 

"You okay?" Emily asked softly as glanced at Elle.

Elle startled briefly at Emily's question and then replied softly. "Yeah, just thinking about how horrible it would be to lose a child, let alone on his birthday." So much could change in 365 days. Life turned on a time in minutes, mere seconds… 366 days ago Shelley Chamberlain had been the happy mother of an almost six year old. Damian Chamberlain had been looking forward to his birthday… and then the events of 365 days, one year ago today had happened and life was forever altered for that family and anyone that their lives might ever touch. It had brought them to the events of today.

"Garcia, what's Shelley Chamberlain's marital status?" Hotch asked.

"Don Chamberlain, city firefighter, filed for divorce three months ago." Penelope replied.

"A local hero, like some of the others she shot." Rossi added.

"But the pain of losing a child destroyed the marriage." Ashley added.

"Could be the next target of her rage; the man who didn't bear witness to her grief." Morgan theorized.

"Morgan you find him. Dave, Emily, and I will go to Shelley's house."

 

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Joshua was happily snoozing, all swaddled up in his baby seat on the table while Mommy cleaned up the kitchen from his big brother and sister having lunch. His little face occasionally scrunched and un-scrunched as he slept.

JJ smiled as she turned to look at Joshua, asleep in his chair on the kitchen table. Then she heard a loud screech come from the living room that sounded like Henry. Concerned that he'd been hurt, she picked Joshua up off of the table and headed for the living room.

"NO, NO, NO" Henry shouted as he pouted and stomped his foot and then began sobbing as he became more upset.

Chloe sat holding the DVD for Barbie and attempting to ignore the ruckus her brother was causing as she looked at the pictures on the DVD box.

"Hey, buddy what's going on in here?" JJ asked as she crossed the living room and laid Joshua down in his bassinet. Then she walked back over and knelt down in front of Henry. "Baby, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"Cwoe" Henry sniffled "'atch Bawbie" Henry sobbed as he pointed at the DVD in his sister's hands.

JJ sighed a breath of relief that nobody was hurt. "And you don't want to watch Barbie?"

"Noooooooo" Henry said as he shook his head and hiccupped.

"What do you want to watch?" JJ asked.

"Dino…" Hiccup "dinotaurs" Henry replied continuing to hiccup as he ended his crying jag.

"Chloe sweetie, why don't we find something that you and Henry both want to watch?" Mommy asked as she looked at the shelf that held all of Chloe and Henry's movies and DVDs.

"But Mommy… I wanna watch Baaaaaaaaaarbiiiiiiieeeee" Chloe replied in a whiney voice.

"No Bawbie…. Dinotaurs!" Henry replied.

JJ sighed. It was going to be one of those afternoons. Then Joshua woke up from his nap, disturbed by the yelling, crying, and tantrums that his older siblings were having.

"Okay, since you can't agree on a movie, its nap time." Mommy said as she took the movie from Chloe's hand and put it back on the shelf.

"Noooooooooooo I don't wanna take a nap Mommy" Chloe cried as she flopped backwards on the ground.

Henry plopped down on his butt next to Mommy on the floor and started crying again.

JJ took a deep breath stood up, pinching her nose as she took a moment to collect herself as all three of the kids cried at once. Chloe and Henry were mid-melt down and their being upset was rubbing off on Joshua. She paused as she thought about what to do. Then she made a decision and bent down and picked up Henry.

Henry went limp in Mommy's arms as she held him and he sobbed against her shoulder.

JJ placed Henry in the big overstuffed chair and then knelt down in front of him. "Baby, I know you're upset and that's because you're tired. You need a nap. Can you do Mommy a favor?"

Henry hiccupped and sniffled as he continued to cry. "Wu wu wu wu wu wut?" he sobbed.

JJ reached out and wiped the tears from his cheeks. "Stay right here and I'll come back and get you okay?"

"Uh uh uh uh huh" Henry sobbed.

JJ sighed and then went over to where Chloe was laying on the floor and picked her up as well.

"Mo mo mo mo mo mommyyyyyyyyyyyy do do don't wanna ta ta ta take a nan a naaaaaaaaaap" Chloe half whined half cried while she sobbed.

"I know baby girl, but you're cranky right now. You need a nap." JJ said as she kissed her curl covered head. She carried Chloe over to the couch and laid her down. "Sweetie I want you to lay here on the couch until I come and get you okay?"

Chloe sniffled. "Bu bu bu but I do do don't wa wa wanna ta ta take a na na nap" Chloe whimpered.

"Chloe that's enough." JJ said softly. "Just lay here for me okay?"

"O O Okay Mo mo mo mo mommy" Chloe sobbed.

JJ leaned down and kissed Chloe on the forehead. Then she stood up and collected Joshua from his bassinet and carried him upstairs. She figured he would be the easiest to settle so she started with him.

As JJ sat rocking Joshua and breastfeeding him, she could still hear Chloe and Henry sobbing downstairs. It was a sound that broke her heart, but she also knew she needed to get Joshua down. She had a feeling Chloe and Henry might end up crying themselves to sleep.

A few minutes later Joshua was fed, changed, and sleeping peacefully in his bassinet in Mommy and Daddy's room.

Then JJ went downstairs to see about getting the next little Reid to bed for nap time. As she knelt down in front of the chair Henry was sitting in, he was still sniffling. She scooped him up and carried him upstairs. She paused in the bathroom and sat Henry on the counter while she wet a warm wash cloth and washed his face. Then she carried him into Joshua's nursery and sat down in the rocking chair, humming and singing softly as she rocked him to sleep. She noticed that Henry's breathing had gotten deep and even. She leaned back to glance down at his face that was buried in her neck, while his little hand held a fistful of her shirt. Seeing that he was asleep, she stood up and carried the sleeping little boy to his room and tucked him in his bed. She paused above him and kissed him on the forehead as she whispered. "Mommy loves you Henry."

She stopped in the bathroom and rinsed out the wash cloth she'd used to wash Henry's face and then ran it under warm water and brought it downstairs with her to deal with her toughest customer of the day. Her baby girl had definitely inherited her stubbornness.

JJ sat down on the couch next to where Chloe was laying.

Chloe looked up at Mommy with big brown eyes that matched her Daddy's. "No nap Mommy."

"Baby girl can you tell Mommy why don't you want to take a nap?" JJ asked in a soft voice as she used the wash cloth to wipe off Chloe's tear stained face.

Chloe shrugged. "I don't know."

JJ smiled softly at Chloe and shook her head. "You know Mommy's going to take a nap too."

"You are?" Chloe asked with big eyes.

"Mm hm" JJ murmured. "I need one today for sure." JJ said softly under her breath. "Come on sweetie." JJ said as she picked her three year old up off the couch.

JJ carried Chloe to the nursery and sat down in the rocking chair with Chloe. She hummed and ran her fingers through her over tired baby girls golden blonde halo of curls as she rocked her.

Chloe fidgeted and fussed, fighting sleep as long as she possibly could, but eventually her tired little body couldn't take any more and she fell asleep against Mommy's shoulder.

JJ breathed a sigh of relief as she felt Chloe go slack in her arms as her little girl finally gave into exhaustion and slept. She stood up from the rocking chair and carried Chloe to her room and laid her down on her bed, covering her with her blanket. She sat down on the edge of Chloe's bed and brushed her curls back from her forehead and then leaned down kissed Chloe on the forehead and told her that she loved her.

JJ went downstairs one last time to check that everything was secure and that the door was locked then she made her way back upstairs and flopped face first onto her and Spence's bed. She hoped that Chloe and Henry took a nice long nap today. They definitely needed it and so did she.

 

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"Good job Seth. Keep going buddy." Emily said as she sat on the floor playing with Avery and Seth while Aaron ran out to pick up take out for dinner. Seth was walking behind a push toy.

Avery stood up from where she sat on the floor not too far away. She glowered as Seth used her push toy. "Mine" she said as she pushed Seth away from the toy.

A surprised look crossed Seth's face as he stumbled backwards and fell down on his tushie. His little eyes watered and he started to cry from the shock of falling down.

Emily scooted over and picked up Seth and rubbed his back. "You're okay Seth; you're okay." She said as she calmed him down. After a couple of minutes he calmed after realizing the Mommy was right; he was okay. Emily sat Seth down in the middle of some toys and then turned to look at Avery.

"Avery Grace Hotchner, why did you just push your brother?" Emily asked as she leveled a steady gaze at Avery.

Avery met her Mommy's gaze with one of her own. She patted the handle of the push toy. "Mine."

"Avery Grace, we don't ever push. It's not nice. And we need to share. You need to tell Seth you're sorry and give him back the toy." Emily explained calmly and rationally.

"NO MINE!" Avery yelled and stamped her foot as she glared at Mommy.

"Avery Grace apologize to your brother, please." Emily said.

"No" Avery replied defiantly as she shook her head.

Emily took a deep breath. "I'm only going to count to 3. 1…"

Avery stood staring down Mommy.

"2…" Emily continued counting as she raised her eyebrows and continued to look directly at Avery.

The scowl on Avery's face deepened.

Emily stood up. "3" she said as she moved towards Avery.

Avery's eyes widened and a soft "Uh oh" escaped her lips.

"Avery Grace Hotchner, you are going in time out for 5 minutes." Emily said as she grabbed a chair from Avery's play table and pulled it far away from the toys in the corner of the room as she led her daughter to the corner of the room. Avery could see the toys, but she couldn't reach or play with the toys. She could see Seth playing with the toys though. "I want you to sit here and think about how you would feel if someone pushed you down and took away something you were playing with. Pushing is dangerous. You could have hurt Seth."

At that moment Avery heard the door open and close, meaning only one thing. Daddy was home. Avery squirmed away from Mommy's grip and ran towards Daddy as he entered the room. "Dada" she cried. "Mean Mama" she said as buried her face in Daddy's pant leg.

Aaron rested his head on the top of Avery's head where she was crying into his pant leg and looked curiously up at his wife who stood with her arms crossed and a very displeased look on her face.

Emily raised an eyebrow at Aaron's questioning look.

"Avery?" Aaron asked getting Avery's attention.

Avery sniffled and looked up at Daddy.

"Do you want to tell Daddy what happened?"

Avery's face scrunched up. Then she turned and pointed at the push toy sitting in the middle of the living room. "Mine. No Seff. Mine."

Aaron looked up from Avery's tear streaked little face to Emily's looking for a translation on what happened.

"Seth was using the push toy and walking behind it. Avery pushed him down and took it away. I asked her to apologize and give it back twice. She said no. So I told her she needed to be in time out for 5 minutes to think about how dangerous and mean it was to push Seth and take away the toy." Emily explained.

Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Avery, Mommy is right. We don't push. It's dangerous and somebody could get hurt. It's also mean."

"Noooooooo" Avery whined, upset that she hadn't gotten her way.

"Come on. You need to go in time out for…" He turned to look at Emily.

"5 minutes" Emily supplied.

"5 minutes" Aaron finished as he sat Avery in the chair. "You need to stay her until Mommy says you can get up. Then you need to tell Seth you're sorry and promise Mommy and I that there won't be any more pushing."

Avery pouted as she sat in the chair. She'd barely been there a minute when she yelled. "I NO WIKE DIS!"

"Good" Mommy said. "You aren't supposed to like it. You are supposed to learn you lesson so you don't do what you did again. What did you do that was naughty?" she asked Avery.

Avery pouted.

"Is it too early to plan on boarding school when she's a teenager?" Emily joked softly to Aaron where they sat on the couch.

Aaron quirked an eyebrow at Emily. "She does take after he mother."

"Maaaammaaaaaa I pway noooooooooooooooow?" Avery whined.

"Can you tell Mommy what you aren't supposed to do anymore?" Emily asked as she turned to look at Avery.

"No push." Avery said finishing with a very put upon sigh.

"Right. What do you need to say to Seth?" Emily asked.

Avery furrowed her brow as she looked down at her lap. "I torry and no do it 'dain."

"Okay then, you can get up and go tell Seth you're sorry." Emily replied with a sigh of relief that the battle of wills was over for now.

 

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JJ sighed deeply as she walked out of the bathroom from washing her face. She made her way across their bedroom by the soft glow of the bathroom nightlight and climbed into bed next to Spence. She slid under the covers and curled up into Spence's side. "So how was the case?" she asked as she wrapped her arm across his stomach and rubbed his side.

"It was rough. The unsub was a mother who lost her son exactly a year ago on his birthday in a horrible car accident. She thought her husband didn't remember, that he'd forgotten because he was able to continue on with his life after losing their son." Spence replied as his hand rubbed circular patterns on JJ's back. "How about you? How was your day?"

JJ was silent for a moment, unsure how to describe how her day had gone. Then out of nowhere, she burst into tears.

"JJ what is it?" Spence asked in a concerned voice as he wrapped both arms tighter around JJ, attempting to comfort and hold her until she was ready to talk. He pressed a kiss to her forehead as he rubbed her back.

JJ sniffled as she gathered her thoughts. "I just Chloe and Henry had a meltdown today… and that woke Joshua up and all three of them were crying at once." JJ sobbed. "Do… do you think I'm a bad Mom?" JJ asked.

Spence was startled by JJ question. Then he reminded himself of the flood of hormones that were currently wreaking havoc on her system right now. "Of course not. JJ you're a terrific Mom. The kids love you and you love them. It's not the first meltdown they've had and it won't be the last. I bet you had them all calmed down pretty quick. I wish I'd been here to help. Are you okay?"

JJ sniffled again as she reached up to wipe her eyes. "Yeah, I will be. I just… it was so frustrating."

Spence nodded his head against the top of JJ's head, where it rested on his chest. "I think you maybe just need a night away from the kids in the company of adults. Everybody was talking about getting together one night soon. You want me to tell them we're in?"

JJ lifted her head to rest her chin on Spence's breastbone as she looked at him with her red rimmed eyes. "I would love a night out, so definitely yes." she said and then kissed his chin, then his nose, and finally his lips. "Can we go dancing?" she asked with a twinkle in her eyes, knowing her husband really didn't like to dance. He swore he wasn't good at it and felt like a blind, drunk orangutan with a bum leg while trying to dance. She knew there had to be a dancer inside anyone who could move like her husband could.

"We can do anything you want to JJ." Spence whispered against his wife's lips.

"Anything?" JJ asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.

Spence swallowed. "Well, almost anything as long as it's legal and doctor approved."

"Aw you're no fun," JJ giggled. "but I love you anyway." She said as dipped her head and kissed him again.

"I love you too JJ." Spence murmured as their lips parted. Then he buried his lips in her neck as her rolled her onto her back.

JJ laughed at the muffled sound of her husband's voice saying, "And I'll show you I can be a lot of fun."


	13. Chapter 13

"An' dis one is a 'tegotaurus." Henry said as he held up one of his dinosaurs so that Joshua could see it. "Dada make da best rawrs." Henry said imparting his big brother wisdom on Joshua.

Joshua gurgled and cooed as he swiped his hand in the general direction of the stuffed stegosaurus that Henry was holding in front of him. His head turned slightly from side to side as he was watched Chloe, Henry, and Rebecca who sat together on the floor seated in a semi-circle in front of him.

"Becbec?" Chloe said getting Rebecca's attention

"Yeah Chloe?" Rebecca replied.

"What's Joshie saying?" Chloe asked as she looked at her baby brother and tipped her head as she listened to him gurgle and coo while he kicked his legs and swatted and swiped his arms just in front of himself.

Rebecca smiled as she looked back and forth between Joshua in his baby seat and Chloe's interested expression as she studied her little brother. It was like a childhood development class in action.

"I don't know Chloe; what do you think he's saying?" Rebecca asked curiously.

Chloe's face scrunched up in thought. "I think he's saying that he's happy and he likes playin' with us."

Rebecca smiled. "You know what, I think you're right." She said as she watched Henry continue to parade stuffed dinosaurs in front of Joshua.

JJ and Spence smiled, as they walked down the stairs hand in hand for their night out with most of the team, at the sight of their children all huddled together with Rebecca.

"What are you guys doing?" JJ asked as they walked over to where the kids and Rebecca were grouped on the living room floor.

"I 'towing Doshiea my dinotaurs." Henry replied as turned to look at Mommy.

"Mommy, you look pretty!" Chloe said as she looked up at Mommy and admired Mommy's pretty dress and shoes.

"Thank you sweetie." JJ smiled as she knelt down between Chloe and Henry and kissed Chloe on the top of the head.

"Where are you going?" Chloe asked.

"Daddy and I are going out for dinner with friends." JJ replied as she ran her fingers through Chloe's hair. She could see the wheels turning as Chloe thought about what she'd said.

"Is Aunt Emily and Uncle Hotch gonna be there?" Chloe asked.

"Mm hm" JJ murmured.

"What 'bout Jack?" Chloe asked.

"Not tonight sweetie. It's just adults tonight. But maybe Jack, Avery, and Seth can come over and play this weekend." JJ replied.

"Hey big guy are you showing Joshua you're dinosaurs?" Spence asked as he crouched behind Henry.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded.

"Does he like them?" Spence asked.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded again as he held a dinosaur out in front of Joshua.

Joshua chose that moment to smile as he gurgled happily at his big brother.

"Dada, Doshiea 'miled at me!" Henry said as he tipped his head back to look at Daddy.

Spence looked at Joshua who was happily sitting in his baby seat enjoying the attention from his big brother. "I see that buddy. He must be enjoying learning about dinosaurs from you."

JJ smiled as she watched father and son together, then she realized that they needed to get going. "Okay guys, hugs and kisses. Mommy and Daddy have to go."

Chloe stood up and leaned over to kiss Mommy on the cheek as Mommy wrapped her arms around Chloe and hugged her tight. "Be good for Rebecca and I'll see you in the morning okay?"

Chloe nodded her head against Mommy's shoulder.

Henry popped up to his feet as he realized that Mommy and Daddy were getting ready to leave. "You go bye bye?"

"We are bud, but you get to stay here and play with Chloe and Joshua and Rebecca." Spence said as Henry's fingers picked at the fabric of his pants where it covered his knee. "You're going to have fun tonight, right?"

Henry nodded his head and held out his arms for a hug, which Daddy was more than happy to give. "I love you Henry. Give Mommy a hug and kiss." Spence said as he squeezed his eldest son tight.

Chloe and Henry switched and then JJ and Spence took turns kissing Joshua on the forehead to say goodbye. At five weeks old he was completely content to let his parents go out for a few hours without so much as a fuss.

 

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The Reids, Hotchners, Morgans, and LaMontagnes sat around a table together tucked into the corner of one of their favorite restaurants in DC, chatting and laughing as they their server poured glasses of wine for them from the bottles he's just delivered to the table.

"None for me; thank you." Penelope said quietly as she covered the mouth of the wine glass in front of her with her hand.

"Pen are you…" JJ leaned in and whispered, having noticed how quietly Penelope had told the waiter.

Penelope turned to glance at JJ who had also shaken her head at the waiter's questioning glance and covered the mouth of her own wine glass with her hand. "D and I are working on baby number 2, but I don't want to jinx anything or add any pressure. We agreed we wouldn't say anything until it actually happens."

JJ smiled. "I'll keep my fingers crossed and my lips sealed." She whispered back.

Spence nodded at Morgan over the top of their wives bent together heads, in silent agreement that he too would keep their secret. Sitting as they were on either side of their wives, they'd heard JJ and Penelope's whispered conversation. No one else had however.

"So JJ," Elle asked from across the table. "How are Chloe and Henry settling in with having a new baby brother?"

JJ smiled. "They love him. They've both been Mommy and Daddy's little helpers. Henry is anxious for the day when Joshua is big enough to be able to play with him, and Chloe is absolutely mesmerized by there being a real live baby in the house. Although…" JJ trailed off, contemplating if she really wanted to share the frustration of last week with the team, their friends… their family she reminded herself at the quizzical expressions on everyone's faces at her lengthy pause. Spence's hand rubbing her bare shoulder where his hand rested, gave her the courage to share.

JJ took a breath. "Last week Chloe and Henry had a major meltdown at the same time. Then Joshua started crying… I thought I was going to lose my mind."

"Oh thank god" Emily sighed in relief and then laughed at JJ's confused facial expression. "I thought it was just me who had a child who is… well I love my children, but sometimes they can be very trying."

JJ nodded. "Chloe and Henry's meltdown was over what movie to watch until naptime." JJ shared with a smile.

Emily shook her head. "I have you beat. Avery pushed Seth because he was using her walking toy. She kept insisting 'mine' and wouldn't apologize to Seth. There was glaring, stomping, and an escape from timeout…" Emily trailed off as she thought back to the incident last week.

"Ooooh" Penelope exclaimed. "She is your mini-me in more than just the looks department I see."

Hotch grinned. "That's what I said."

Emily raised an eyebrow at her husband. "If I am not mistaken there was definitely a hint of a junior unit chief glare in the way your daughter was looking at me last week."

"My daughter? Why is she your daughter when she's a well behaved angel, but my daughter when she's a heathen?" Hotch asked jokingly.

Emily grinned. "Because all the angelic qualities came from me?" she asked in a light joking manner that caused everyone around the table to laugh.

The lighthearted good humor continued as the four sets of parents continued to share stories about their children's best and worst moments.

They laughed over Jake deciding to remove his own diaper because it was 'ucky'; him proceeding to lead Daddy on a diaperless chase scene through house; and his decision that training pants worked well as a hat. If Fran Morgan had been there, she would have told them that it appeared her cheeky little grandson appeared to be destined to follow in his father's footsteps.

The story of Billy's first steps on his own prompted more than a few 'awws'. All of the mothers sympathized with Elle as she talked about how much she was sad that he wasn't a baby anymore but at the same time, was enjoying watching him hit all of his milestones.

They smiled as Emily and Hotch talked about how Seth had developed a sense of security over the last few months as he settled into a normal routine. Despite Avery's occasional possessiveness with her things, she and Seth really did get along well. Jack was of course ecstatically happy to have both a brother and a sister, and thoroughly enjoying spending time with them both.

That of course brought the childhood update back to JJ and Spence, who filled the team in on the fact that Joshua was now able to hold his head up for a bit and had smiled his first real smile just before they left for the evening. Henry was excelling at being a big brother as he adjusted to not being the baby anymore. Chloe was taking it all in stride.

Eventually talk turned to other things besides their children. After all, while they were parents, that's not all they were. Just as it was nice to leave the mantle of work behind when they could get away from it, so too it was nice to leave the mantle of parenthood behind for a few hours while they enjoyed an adult evening out in the company of good friends.

"It's a nice night tonight. Anyone up for a lil' stroll?" Will asked as he signed the receipt for his and Elle's part of the bill.

Morgan shrugged as he looked across the table at Hotch and nodded, knowing that all of their wives would definitely enjoy spending more time together. "So Sex God, are you and JJ in for a walk?" he asked with a grin as he turned to look at Reid.

Reid just shook his head. "You're just jealous that with all the nicknames Penelope has for you that wasn't one she was already using." He replied good-naturedly, deciding that were Morgan was concerned that it was easier to just roll with the teasing than it was to fight back or deny it. Then he glanced down to look at JJ who was grinning as she rested her head on his shoulder.

JJ tipped her head back to meet Spence's gaze. "A walk sounds great."

"Oooooo we can window shop!" Penelope squealed, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

All of the males at the table groaned at the thought of being dragged from store to store and carrying shopping bags for the rest of the night.

 

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"Oooo ladies!" Penelope exclaimed as she pulled her arm free from her husband's. "Look at the shoes and purses!" she cried gleefully as she led the way over to the window display of a shop to take in the colorful, yet coordinated display of peep toes, boots, stilettoes, sling-backs, wedges, pumps… and then there were the purse.

The men smiled ruefully at each other as they huddled together to talk while their wives took in the vivid display of fashion.

"What is about shoes and purses that has them all so… I don't even know the word… I just don't get it." Reid said as he glanced over at where their wives stood closely together looking at the window.

"If a genius can't figure it out, I don't suppose there's much hope for the rest of us." Morgan quipped with a shrug.

"I think after a while you just learn to accept that it's a fact of nature." Hotch replied.

"Yeah… but what is about the shoes… I mean they're shoes." Reid reiterated. "They go on your feet… you walk in them… they protect your feet." He said shaking his head. He'd learned to accept that JJ had a diverse collection of clothes, shoes, and purses… but he'd never been able to understand why. He just couldn't seem to wrap his brain around it.

"Ah, but ours ain't to question why. Our place is to sit back and enjoy. You can't tell me that you never noticed how sexy some of the stuff they buy is." Will smirked.

Reid replied. "Of course I have. I'd have to be blind not to notice."

"Look at that Hotch, our genius is a real live boy." Morgan said with a grin.

"I'm a genius, not dead." Reid said with a roll of his eyes in Morgan's direction which caused all of the men to laugh.

JJ smiled as she watched Spence say something to Morgan and the all of the guys laughed. She couldn't help but wonder what he'd said.

"Peaches…. peaches….JAYJE!" Penelope finally yelled after several moments of attempting to get JJ's attention.

"Hm?" JJ murmured, turning her head as her attention was pulled back the ladies' conversation.

"Wow Reid must really put the special in special agent." Penelope teased with a wiggle of her eyebrows and a giggle as she finally pulled her blonde friend's attention away from watching her husband.

"We're debating shoe shopping. Tell me those stilettoes aren't just to die for." Emily said as she pointed at a sexy pair of black strappy stilettoes in the window.

"So what's the skinny on you and our good Dr.? Should we be shopping for post-maternity, passed my physical, seduction clothes? Those stilettoes would stop gorgeous gray matter right in his tracks peaches… especially if paired with the right lingerie." Penelope continued as she turned to glance at JJ.

"Penelope Garcia Morgan!" JJ replied and then cast a worried glance over her shoulder. She knew if Morgan overheard their discussion, Spence would never hear the end of it.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "I thought you would all have delicious dish to share. I was thinking I'd hear all about Elle and her spicy Cajun husband…"

Elle smirked and glanced over at her husband, enjoying the view as he loosened his tie and rolled up the cuffs of his shirt sleeves. She caught his eye and blew him a kiss. She smiled as he winked and grinned at her.

"Emily would tell us about how deep the still waters of SSA Aaron Hotchner really run… and you guys are giving me nothing new here. The role of stone wall is being played by Elle LaMontagne and Emily the strange and great is performing her own rendition of a Mexican stand-off. Although…." Penelope trailed off for a moment.

"PG?" Emily asked cautiously at the thoughtful look on Penelope's face, the she glanced over at Aaron, taking a moment to appreciate the impressive figure he cut in his flawlessly composed in his suit. PG was right, still waters did run deep.

A sly grin crossed Penelope's face as she noticed Elle and Emily both peek at their husbands. "I was just thinking about how those who don't learn their history are doomed to repeat it."

At the puzzled looks on her friends' faces, Penelope continued. "Remember the Alamo my friends. Eventually it fell and so will all of you." She grinned. "We haven't had any girl time in forever. I need some details… you guys are killing me here. Tell me something deliciously naughty." Penelope said eagerly.

"Like what?" JJ asked slowly and cautiously.

"Just how special is Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Reid?" Penelope asked wiggling her eyebrows again.

"What?" JJ replied with a laugh.

"Come on Jayje… just what type of pistol is he packing? Is he armed and dangerous?"

JJ grinned at Pen and shook her head at her friend's antics. Then she decided to play along and winked. "Don't worry Pen; Spence is licensed to carry a concealed weapon."

Penelope pouted. "Come on peaches…. tell me. I told you!"

JJ shuddered as she remembered some of Pen's overly descriptive moments on girls' nights. "Yeah Pen you did, but I didn't need to know….that was just TMI. In fact I could have gone my entire life without needing to know some of the details you've told me over the years."

"Aww… you guys are no fun tonight." Penelope pouted as she caught Elle and Emily's sympathetic glances at JJ.

"I have to agree with JJ on this one PG," Emily said "sometimes less is more."

Elle laughed. "Except for when it's not."

All of the girls laughed and nodded in agreement as they snickered like school girls. As their laughter slowed, Emily cast a glance over at where the guys stood chatting. "So, shoe store?"

Elle followed Emily's line of vision over to the guys. "If we make it quick, we should have some time before the natives get restless." She said tipping her head towards their husbands as she turned to look at the other ladies hopefully.

"You know I don't need convincing to go shoe shopping." Penelope said with a smile as she turned to look at JJ.

"You don't need convincing to go shopping in general Penelope." Elle replied with a smile and then she along with Emily all turned their gazes on the lone holdout.

JJ sighed as she felt the weight of three stares on her. "Alright, alright, let's go buy some shoes." She said as she turned and led the way into the shoe store followed by her three best female friends. She glanced back over her shoulder with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Do you suppose those sexy black strappy stilettoes only come in black? I'd kind of like to have a pair that matches what I plan on wearing for Spence once Dr. Green gives me the all clear."

 

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The husbands all stood up straight as their wives walked out of the shoe store laughing and giggling with each other, each with their own bag in hand. The wives made their way across the short distance between the door of the shoe store and where their husbands stood waiting. As their wives drew near, each husband held out his hand to take her bag from her.

JJ wrapped her arms around Spence's arm and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked with the rest of the group in the mid-spring air. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and could be seen just off in the distance. The moonlit cherry blossoms were a beautiful sight and the couples spread out as they walked, enjoying a bit of time with just each other as they meandered on their walk. Soon however, it was time to head home and they turned back the way they'd come.

 

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"Dude when you see the slicer's brother in the closet… that was just awesome!" Nicholas said wrapping his arm around Zoe as they walked out of the theater.

"I know," Nicholas' best friend Marc replied as he offered his arm to his date for the evening, Ashley Seaver, "talk about being consumed by betrayal."

Zoe shook her head as wrapped her arm around her boyfriend Nicholas' waist. "There was so much blood and gore."

Ashley chuckled. "After everything we do and see on a daily basis; that got to you?"

Zoe laughed. "No, not really… but I'm just stating the fact."

"Speaking of what you do on a daily basis," Nicholas said, "any word on where your first assignment is going to be?"

"No, we're still waiting to hear. Why?" Zoe asked.

"Well it makes it kind of hard to know where I should start looking for a job when you don't know where you're going to be assigned." Nicholas said teasing his girlfriend.

Ashley and Marc smiled as they watched the couple walking next to them.

"So are you anxious to find out where you're going to be assigned?" Marc asked as he turned to look at Ashley.

Ashley shrugged. "I'm really fine with almost anywhere." She paused in thought. She really hoped that they listened to her two requests. She didn't want to be assigned to the Minneapolis Division if at all possible, but by no means did she want to be assigned to a resident agency in North Dakota. There were just far too many bad memories there for her. She turned back to her blind date for evening in an attempt to lighten her mood. "Worried I'll have you moving to somewhere you don't want to?" Ashley smiled.

Marc laughed loudly. "I don't know that I'm quite ready to follow you to wherever you get assigned to, but I can say that I am glad I let Nick talk me into tagging along when he came to visit Zoe. I had fun tonight. Hopefully we can get together again?" he asked hopefully.

Ashley smiled. "I wasn't too sure about the whole blind double date thing… but I'm glad I let Zoe talk me into it. I had fun tonight too."

Zoe and Nicholas grinned at each other as they listened to the friends they'd set up on a blind date walked along beside them after dinner and a movie.

"What do you suppose it is about horror movies that makes them so appealing?" Zoe asked as they continued to walk along.

"I don't know," Ashley replied, "but you know who could totally have told us if he would have been here?"

"Reid" Ashley and Zoe in unison with each other.

"Reid?" both Nicholas and Marc asked as they looked at the girls in confusion.

"He is this scary brilliant guy that we work with." Zoe explained "He has three PHDs and it seems like he knows everything about everything."

"Oh… so he's the guy that's sort of taken you under his wing, right?" Nicholas asked curiously.

Zoe shook her head. "No that's Dave Rossi."

"Wait," Marc said as he looked back and forth between Ashley and Zoe. "You guys get to work with Dave Rossi the famous author?"

"You've read Dave's books?" Ashley asked curiously.

"Hell yeah! They're awesome!" Marc replied. "What you guys do… getting inside the bad guys' heads… it's so cool and so fascinating." Marc paused and cleared his throat. "Sorry… I took some criminology classes in college. Even though I decided it wasn't what I wanted to do, I still find it fascinating."

 

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"Having a good time this evening Bella?" Dave whispered in his wife's ear as he led her around the dance floor.

"I'm having a wonderful time David. Having dinner with Jason and Sarah was a lovely idea." Erin replied as she followed Dave's dancing feet around the floor of the wonderful Italian restaurant they'd dined at this evening.

Dave nodded. "I'm glad." He said softly as he leaned down to kiss her briefly. Then he turned to watch his longtime friend Jason Gideon as he and Sarah danced. Then he turned back to Erin and a grin crossed his face just before he dipped his wife.

"David!" Erin exclaimed in surprise her arms tightening their hold on her husband's shoulders. She moaned as he leaned in close, his warm breath ghosting over her neck and raising goose bumps on her skin.

"Like that did you?" Dave murmured in his wife's ear as he righted them.

"Hmm?" Erin responded dreamily, swept away in the moment by her husband's charm.

Dave chuckled. "Just wait until you see what I have in store for you at home as an encore Cara Mia." His husky voice pushed the words past the shell of Erin's ear while his hands slid dangerously low on her back, causing her to groan low in her throat.

"David, take me home. Now." Erin managed to speak as her fingers tightened their grip on his shoulder and the nape of his neck.

A deep chuckle left Dave's lips as he led his wife off the dance floor and back to their table to pay the bill and leave.

 

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"Good morning" Penelope said as the team sat around the round table together. "I hope you've all had time to re-pack your go bags because you'll be jetting off to San Diego."

"Ah, the land of sun, sand, and surf." Elle mused.

"Oh if only you were going there for the sun, sand, and surf." Penelope replied as she turned the monitor on. "Monica Shandley, Natalie Wallace, Amber Lasko" she said as three girls photos pulled up on the monitor. "Three college students killed in their off campus apartments in the last five days. Two were going to San Diego Coastal University; one was going to San Diego Tech."

"Well the unsub definitely has a type." Morgan said as he looked up at the photos of the three brunettes on the monitor. "They could all be related."

"Yeah, what he said." Garcia said as she prepared to give more details. "They're all in their early 20s, brunette, majoring in education and or child development."

"They all had similar majors focused on children?" Elle asked.

Penelope nodded.

"What are you thinking?" Hotch asked as her turned to look at Elle.

"Well I'm not sure, but doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that all three victims were studying child development and how to shape and mold children?" Elle said as she glanced around at the team. "Reid what are the odds that three randomly picked victims would just happen to all have similar majors?"

Reid's eyes widened as he mentally calculated the odds. "Well San Diego's essentially one big college town. Enrollment at SDCU of approximately 65,000 students, there are nine colleges and universities in San Diego County, five private, four public… and there are seven trade schools so the odds are one in…."

"Can we just say slim to none?" Elle asked as she looked at Reid.

Reid nodded as he realized that Elle was merely trying to make a point in regards to how odd if would be for all three victims to have been completely random. "He's picking them not only for their looks, but also for what they represent to him."

"Is there any indication that they knew one another?" Ashley asked.

"As of right now I'm coming up empty." Penelope explained as she played with the remote in her hands, "Their apartments are spread throughout the city, so …"

Emily shook her head as she took a sip of coffee. "If the victims didn't know each other, then there has to be something linking them, some way that the unsub is finding them. We'll want to figure that out as quickly as possible."

Reid perused the case file in front of him as the team looked for the different angles of the case that would need to be covered. "No finger prints at the crime scene. The unsub uses gloves."

"He's organized." Zoe replied with a nod of her head.

"Forced entry at all of the apartments," Hotch added, "back door, patio door, living room window."

"Homes were wrecked. Clear evidence of a struggle." Rossi said adding his thoughts as he glanced at the rest of the team.

"He's creating a scene. He wants to inflict fear not only in his victim, but in whoever finds the body." Ashley postulated.

Zoe shook her head. "What if it's not about creating fear for whoever finds the body, but for whoever his ultimate target is? What if this is all a buildup for whomever he's really going after? He wants the real target of his rage to be in fear. He wants them to figure out that he's coming for them."

"He's killed three women in under a week." Hotch said as he looked around at the team.

"In all likelihood, he's already hunting for his fourth victim now." Rossi added.

"And it's just a matter of time before he goes after the one he really wants." Elle shook her head as she looked up from the file in front of her.

Hotch nodded. "San Diego PD wants us on the scene as soon as possible." He said as he closed his file and stood up from the table. The rest of the team followed as they moved to grab their go bags from under their desks.

 

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"Okay, so what do we know so far?" Hotch asked as they sat in the conference room at the precinct waiting for Ashley and Zoe to finish interviewing Amber Lasko's roommate.

"Well there's the fact that he didn't have a lot of confidence when he first started, but he's learned quickly and now he's enjoying it." Rossi said referring to his, Hotch, and Elle's visit to the medical examiner.

Emily nodded. "He could have grabbed Amber at any point, it would have been quicker and easier, but he went out of his way to wait until she was locked inside her apartment and feeling safe to jimmy the window."

"He wants them to feel safe before he takes that away from them." Morgan continued.

"It's about making them feel powerless in their own personal space." Reid added.

"So who does he ultimately want to make feel powerless, and what does it have to do with young brunettes studying child development and education?" Ell asked. "Hey Pen?" she said speaking into the speakerphone that Penelope was on the other end of.

"Yes my fiercely fabulous friend?" Penelope replied.

Elle shook her head and grinned. "Did you have any luck finding any connections between the first three victims?'

"Nada" Penelope replied with a sigh. "Other than what we already know that they have in common everything is different. Apartments in different parts of the city, one had a boyfriend the other two didn't, different jobs, I can't find anything."

"Except there has to be something these victims are too similar for it to be random." Emily replied. "With thousands of brunettes throughout the city, how does he find girls that look enough alike that they could have passed as relatives that all happen to share an interest in going into careers involving children? You'd think he was searching through a list of candidates online to find the victims that fit his criteria perfectly."

Reid's face scrunched up and then he looked up at Emily. "What if he is?"

"What?" Emily asked.

"What if he's able to shop for his victims online?" Reid asked.

"How would he do that?" Morgan asked.

"Can you see how the student data bases were maintained for SDCU and San Diego Tech?" Reid asked into the phone.

"Oh I see where you are going with this Reid and there is a reason that knowledge is power my friends." Penelope said with a smile at them finally having a break through. "Both schools outsource their data entry to the San Diego Register to process and maintain their student data base."

"So what all does the Register process?" Morgan asked.

"They enter in all of the student information, update student IDs, the general plethora of information that is kept on students."

"So if our unsub had access to this data base, he'd be free to literally shop for victims that fit his criteria." Rossi said as he leaned forward on his arms.

"Yes" Penelope replied.

"Garcia, we need to start taking a look at the employees of the San Diego Register." Hotch said.

"Yes sir, but what am I looking for? There are hundreds of employees that have access to the Register's systems."

Hotch sighed. Even when they had a breakthrough, sometimes they still needed more information. "Start by looking for employees with records and we'll get back to you when we have more information to narrow it down."

At that moment Ashley and Zoe entered the conference room.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Rossi asked.

"According to Michelle, Amber worked several odd jobs to make ends meet." Zoe replied as she and Ashley sat down with the team.

"It's worth checking out. We could be wrong, the odd jobs could be how she met the unsub. We have to keep an open mind at this point." Rossi said as he looked at Hotch.

"Garcia, get us a list of jobs that Amber worked the last few months and look for personal checks that she might have deposited as under the table payments. Elle and Zoe see if you can still reach anyone at the Register to get a list of employees with access to the system. If he keeps to his accelerated timetable, he'll strike tonight." Hotch said as he looked down at the file in front of him.

 

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Morgan stood leaning against the crib in the nursery as he and Reid studied the scene where Laurie Burgin had been attacked and died. "You think the unsub fed the kid? I mean, he stabs Laurie, so the kid probably started crying. Maybe he gave the kid the bottle in order to keep him quiet."

"What kind of unsub stops murdering to care for an infant?" Reid asked as he paused to look at Morgan.

"One who identifies with a child." Morgan replied. "We might be looking for someone with deep rooted abandonment issues." He said as he turned to look at Reid.

"Or maybe the baby crying ruined his enjoyment of watching the baby sitter bleed out?" Reid said perplexed by the caring shown to the child while at the same time murdering the adult that had been watching said child. "What if this ties into the reason for the victims are education and child development majors?"

"Well no matter what, caring for the child would be psychological torture for Laurie." Morgan said shaking his head. Just as he turned his head to see if there was anything else that had been missed, a beeping noise in the crib drew his attention. "Reid, look at that…" Morgan said as he picked up Laurie's phone from the crib. Looking through the phone revealed several missed calls and a few text messages from social networking sites.

However the most enlightening piece of information was the fact that Laurie had managed to take a photo of the unsub before she died.

Minutes later, after asking Penelope to go through Laurie's accounts and find out who was following her and who was messaging back, Morgan and Reid headed back to the precinct with a photo and a profile.

 

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Once the team returned to the precinct from Laurie Burgin's murder scene at the Jenkins' house, they delivered the profile to the San Diego PD and then broke up to continue working on uncovering more information that could lead them to the unsub.

Hotch and Ashley sat together on the phone with Penelope as she filtered down her list of criminal records and releases.

"Okay… I have the sexual assaults and lewd behavior filtered out." Penelope replied.

"What do you get if you bump that list up against the list of employees from the Register?" Ashley asked.

"I have 27 people that match to both lists. We'll narrow down to white males in their early 20s who work part time or from home….and we're down to lucky number 13. What else do you have?" Penelope asked.

In the meantime Hotch had stuck his head out of the conference room door to gather his team and the lead Detective on the case.

"Who was recently released?" Ashley asked as the rest of the team came in the room.

Penelope nodded as her fingers clicked away narrowing down their list. "Uh huh, uh huh, this is good… we're down to 9…. What else?"

"The unsub's always been troubled Penelope, so look for youthful offenders who would have fit into the sociopathic triad." Morgan added.

Penelope shook her head. "Okay here's a disturbing social phenomenon that does not help… we're still at 9 candidates for stalky mcstalkerson."

"Okay… what are the crimes that they served time for?" Rossi asked.

"Okay" Penelope said as she perused her list. "I've got an assault and battery, burglary…."

Reid shook his head. "Look for crimes that involved a care taker or happened when he was a child it's the only thing that fits with why these victims are substitutes for his real target."

"Okay... here's one, Greg Phinney, Chula Vista, he was put into juvie when he was 13 for threatening his step-mom with a knife."

"What do we know about the step-mother?" Morgan asked.

"Kate Jones aka the second Mrs. Phinney married Greg's father a year after Greg's father was killed in a car accident. Greg was 11 at the time…. Mr. Phinney died four weeks ago."

"Is there any evidence that Kate worked in the Phinney's home before the mother's death?" Hotch asked as the team and lead Detective huddled around the phone in the conference room.

"Oh the plot solidifies. Kate sited additional income as caregiver on her tax returns when she was a college student. Payments trace back to… the Phinneys. Kate filed numberous reports against Greg for violent behavior, experimentation on animals… Greg's father finally put the kibosh on things when he was 17, had him institutionalized, Greg was released two weeks ago."

"Just before the killings started." Elle replied.

"Penelope, where's Greg Phinney now?" Reid asked.

"Yeah, that's a good question." Penelope responded as she devolved a little deeper in order to find an address.

 

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When they arrived at Greg Phinney's apartment, he wasn't there.

"Alright, Reid and Elle, work with Penelope and see if you can get into Greg's computer in case he has another victim picked out. The rest of us are going to head to Kate Phinney's house in case he's there."

Elle nodded as Reid reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, pressing the speed dial for Penelope.

"Speak boy wonder, behold my mite." Penelope said as she answered the phone.

"Penelope, we need to log into Greg Phinney's computer to see if we can find who has picked as his next victim." Reid explained as he pulled a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket and pulled them on.

"Oh, that's touchy. Most company's IT security protocol is that three failed login attempts and you are locked out." Penelope winced. "I can do it, but given the way that he was able to hack into the Jenkins' Wi-Fi and use that to post Laurie's picture, I'm not sure exactly how tech savvy he is. He could have his own additional layer of security on the lap top in case anyone tries to hack in. Our best bet is going to be getting the username and password."

"Okay so what are our options?" Reid asked as he looked at Elle.

"I'll call the supervisor I spoke with at the Register yesterday to get the employee list. I'm sure they don't want to have to print a headline stating that they're lack of assistance aided a murderer in killing another victim." Elle said as she stepped away and dialed her phone.

 

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"Mrs. Kate Phinney?" Hotch asked he knocked on the door.

"Yes, can I help you?" Kate Phinney replied in confusion as she stood in the front door of her house with the entry light turned on so that she could see the group of FBI agents assembled on her front steps.

"We need to speak with you about your step-son Greg." Hotch replied.

Kate's shoulders slumped. "What's Greg done now?"

 

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Hotch stood watching as Emily, Ashley, and Zoe spoke with Kate Phinney when his phone rang. "What have you got?" He asked as he answered after glancing at his phone and seeing that it was Reid calling.

"We think his next victim is Lily Droubay. He student ID was up on his computer screen when we logged on." Reid explained. "We have an address and phone number. Penelope tracked the GPS on her phone."

Hotch nodded as he wrote the address down. "Okay… we're on our way there now, but have Elle call her number just in case. She needs to be warned."

 

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"That last girl, I could be her sister." Lily said into the phone as she sat watching news about the co-ed killer that was still at large. Then there was a rattling noise outside the house. "What was that?" she asked as she turned to look out the front windows of the house, where it appeared the noise had come from.

"Kill, kill, kill" her boyfriend said over the phone in a creepy voice.

"Okay, so not funny." She replied as her boyfriend laughed on the other end of the line.

"Ah, come on, relax. You set the alarm, right?" he asked.

"Um…yeah, let's just see." Lily turned and headed towards to the wall where the security system control panel was mounted. "Alarm is…" She opened the control panel "set. Kid's asleep." She said as she stepped away from the wall. "Come over?"

"I can't I've got a paper due in the morning." He replied.

"Wait, hang on. My other line is ringing and I don't recognize the number." She said as she pulled her phone away from her ear and looked at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hello is this Lily Droubay?" Elle asked as she stood in the middle of Greg Phinney's nearly empty apartment.

"This is she." Lily replied confused about who would be calling her other than her friends and boyfriend at this time of night.

"Lilly, my name is Elle Greenaway. I'm an Agent with the FBI. Are you familiar with the killings that have happened in the last few days?"

"Yes…" Lilly replied

"I don't know how much time you have but I need you to barricade yourself in a room. Please don't ask me any questions. Just do it. Agents and Police are on the way." Elle said as calmly as she could. "Lilly, Lilly… are you still there?"

Lilly turned as she turned around at the sound of the alarm being triggered. "Something just triggered the alarm." Lilly whispered. "I'm in danger aren't I?" Then she screamed as a hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Lily, are you okay? Talk to me." Elle said in concern.

"No, no, I'm okay. The Ellison's just got home early." Lily replied.

"Lily what I said before, Do it, you all need to go barricade yourselves in a room. Agents are on the way, but we have every reason to believe that person who's been doing this is either there watching you now, or on his way." Elle's voice came over the speakerphone as Lily pulled the phone away from her ear.

"Who is this?" Amy Ellison asked in a concerned tone of voice at hearing what Elle had to say.

"I'm Agent Elle Greenaway with the FBI."

Jake Ellison, however had heard enough of what the Agent was saying and seen enough of what was happening in the news to know that they needed to listen to her and he pushed both Amy and Lily towards the stairs so that they could barricade themselves in the nursery with the baby until help arrived.

 

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In the meantime Reid was in communication with Hotch and the rest of the team as they made their way to the Ellison's home. "Hotch, how close are you?" Reid asked with concern as he listened to Elle's end of the conversation.

 

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Greg Phinney grew impatient as he watched the home owners and Lily go up the stairs. There wasn't a way for him to access the second level easily. He'd planned on waiting for his unsuspecting prey to open the door and then he'd just rush them and take control. He stood contemplating, knife in hand as he considered his options. Did he continue to patiently wait for Lily to leave and jump his prey then, or did he seek another means of entry into the house? He'd watched Lily check the alarm through the windows. When he'd tried to jimmy a window on the side of the house, it had triggered the alarm. At this point his best option was to wait them out; after all eventually Lily would be going home… well at least she thought she'd be going home. He sneered behind his mask… after this, he felt like he would finally be ready to face the woman who'd ruined his family.

As Greg Phinney stood in the shadows watching through the window for the Ellisons and Lily to return downstairs from what he assumed was checking on the baby, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the bright shining of a flashlight in his eyes, startling him. He blinked and realized that he was almost completely surrounded, but there was a gap… and he was going to take advantage of it.

Any thoughts Greg Phinney had of escaping through the line of police officers and FBI Agents surrounding him were violently disrupted as Morgan took advantage of another opportunity to use his former football skills and tackled Greg Phinney to the ground.

The knife was knocked out of Greg's hand and a loud oooomph left his lungs as the full weight of the law and FBI Agent Derek Morgan exerted their force on him.

 

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Hotch breathed a sigh of relief as he turned from speaking with the lead Detective as they wrapped up processing the scene, and watched Emily lead Ashley and Zoe in taking Lily and the Ellisons' statements regarding the events that evening.

 

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"Hey, welcome home." Rebecca said with a smile as she stood in the driveway. Spencer had pulled up in the driveway just after her and now she was waiting to walk in the house with her pseudo big brother.

"Thanks," Spence replied with a smile and a glance at the gym bag that was over Rebecca's shoulder. "self-defense class?" he asked with a nod of his head at her bag.

"Yeah" Rebecca replied as she fell in-step with him as they made their way towards the house.

"How's that going?" he asked, genuinely curious and grateful as well that she'd been taking the classes after this last case.

"Good." She said as he opened the door and held it open for her.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" JJ asked as she greeted them at the door.

"I was just asking Bec how self-defense class was going." Spence replied. "Hi" he paused in front of JJ as Rebecca walked past them, knowing that they'd want a few minutes to greet each other after a couple of days apart.

"Hi yourself" JJ replied as she stepped closer to Spence. She rested her hands on his waist as she stepped closer and then slid them up his sides and across his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck as she stood on her tip toes to kiss him hello.

Spence grinned into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around JJ. After a few moments he pulled his lips away from hers, but continued to hold her close as he rested his forehead against hers.

"Long case?" JJ asked as she ran her fingers soothingly though her husband's hair.

Spence nodded.

JJ gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Come on, the kids are all taking their naps, so why don't you go take a quick shower and I'll make us lunch."

"Sounds good." Spence spoke softly.

"Then maybe you should take a nap. You look exhausted baby. Did you sleep on the plane at all?" she asked as she took his go bag from his shoulder and then took his hand. She paused at the door to the laundry room to set his go bag inside. Then she led him towards the stairs.

Spence shook his head. "No. I tried to sleep, but…" then he shrugged. "I just couldn't."

JJ sighed as she squeezed Spence's hand. She'd really hoped that he'd start to see some relief now that they knew the cause of his headaches and he was taking the medication Dr. Green had prescribed. Of course, like they'd been warned, the brain was proving tricky to treat. She held out hope that it was just taking time and that the medication would still work before the next follow up appointment. "Okay, well maybe after lunch. I'll lay down with you too," She said as rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. "but for now, go take a shower. That will help you feel a little better."

 

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"So how are things going with Chad?" JJ asked as she turned to look at Rebecca while they cleaned-up from lunch.

"Who's Chad?" Spence asked as he stood up from the table and walked to the sink to rinse off his dishes.

"Anderson" JJ replied.

"Anderson who we work with Anderson?" Spence asked as he looked back and forth between JJ and Rebecca.

"Yes" JJ replied. "He and Bec are dating."

Spence's brow furrowed. "Did I know this?" he asked concerned that he hadn't been paying attention and had missed something.

"I don't think so baby." JJ replied, then, she turned to look at Rebecca. "So how did your date last night go?"

Rebecca grinned at JJ. "It was great. We had a really good time. He's so sweet. He even offered to help me with some things from my self-defense class."

JJ laughed. "Take down maneuvers I bet."

Spence's eyes went wide as he listened to JJ and Rebecca discussing Anderson and he tried to figure out where to look and something else that he could go do… and then to his relief Joshua's muffled cries came across the baby monitor. "I'm just going to go check on Joshua…" Spence trailed off as he walked out of the room.

JJ chuckled as Spence made his exit from the room. "I'll be up in a few minutes baby. He's probably hungry." She called out after him.

Spence just nodded his head as he took the stairs two at a time, anxious to spend some guy time with his infant son.

 

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"Hey buddy; you have no idea what perfect timing you have." Spence said as he picked Joshua up from his crib, completely forgetting about the baby monitor that was currently turned on as he laid Joshua on his changing table. "Yeah, you saved Daddy from listening to girl talk. Yes you did big guy. So Daddy owes you… what do you to rocking in the rocking chair and Daddy singing to you as repayment huh?"

 

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JJ and Rebecca giggled as they listened to Spence over the baby monitor where they stood talking in the kitchen.

"I'm going to go study. I have a paper that I need to write, but I'll see you later." Rebecca said as Spencer started to sing.

"Okay Bec. See you later." JJ said with a smile. Then she leaned against the counter for a moment, listening to the sound of her husband's voice over the baby monitor as he sang to Joshua. Then she headed upstairs.

She paused in the doorway and watched as Spence rocked Joshua while he sang. Then he stopped as he lifted his head to watch her in the doorway. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your time with him… I just thought he might be hungry."

"I think you're probably right." Spence said as he glanced down at Joshua who was still fussing slightly in his arms. "Are you hungry Joshua? Mommy says she thinks it might be snack time. What do you think?"

JJ crossed the room and stopped in front of where Spence sat in the rocking chair.

"Here, why don't you…" Spence said as he started to stand up so that his wife could take his place in the rocking chair while she fed their son.

"Spence, stay baby." JJ said as she pressed her hand on his shoulder, stopping him from standing up. She reached down and took Joshua out of his arms.

Spence looked up at JJ in confusion as she took the baby out of his arms.

Once Joshua was settled in her arms, she sat in Spence's lap and reached out grabbing the arm that their son had previously rested in and placing it under Joshua to help support the baby. Then she reached up and unbuttoned her shirt so that Joshua could have his snack.

Spence watched in awe of his wife and son as JJ cuddled against his chest while they held their son together as he ate. Remembering that they were in fact in a rocking chair, he started to rock and softly sing to Joshua again as the three of them cuddled together and bonded.


	14. Chapter 14

JJ yawned and rubbed her eyes as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Mm" She moaned as stepped up next to her husband who was waiting for the tea kettle to boil and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What are you doing up?" she mumbled against his chest where her face was buried.

"Good morning to you too." Spence replied softly as he leaned down to kiss the crown of her head and wrapped an arm around her waist, his thumb rubbing against the small of his wife's back. "I got up with Joshua so that you could sleep some more. Why aren't you still sleeping?"

JJ tipped her head back and shot her husband a sleepy grin. "I woke up and you weren't there. Did you already feed Josh?"

"Mm hm" Spence replied as the tea kettle whistled. "I gave him one of the bottles from the fridge. He didn't like it as much as when Mommy feeds him," Spence said with a twinkle in his eye, "but, then I suppose I can't really blame him. I prefer you too." Spence grinned.

JJ laughed and smacked Spence's shoulder. "You've been spending too much time with Morgan."

Spence shrugged and leaned down and kissed JJ. "Why don't I make you breakfast and then you can go back to bed for a little bit?" he whispered against her lips in between pressing soft kisses to them.

"Mmmm" JJ moaned. "That sounds like heaven, but I'm already up and I need to go for a run. Plus Morgan promised he would work with me on my hand to hand skills."

Spence pouted playfully. "Morgan has his own wife. How come he gets to play with mine?"

JJ giggled. "I promise that if it were any other skill than hand to hand, that I'd play with you." JJ winked.

"Damn straight" Spence growled playfully and then spun JJ around and lifted her up on the counter and stepped between her legs.

"Mm" JJ gave a low moan of appreciation, hooked her bare feet behind Spence's waist, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She tipped her head and nibbled on his lower lip as his hands settled low on her waist playing with the hem of her t-shirt.

"Sure you still want to go for a run and work out with Morgan?" Spence asked as he kissed his way across her jaw and down her neck.

"God baby, you don't play fair." JJ groaned as her head fell back on her shoulders.

Spence smirked against her neck. "I know, I learned from you."

JJ laughed. "Hey, be nice." She said as used her foot to lightly kick his butt.

"Oh plan to be very, very nice to you." Spence mumbled against his wife's neck as he kissed, nipped, licked, and sucked the tender flesh.

"Okay, you win baby… I'll ooooh….." JJ moaned her approval as he nibbled on her collar bone. "I'll go running later."

No sooner had JJ declared Spence's victory than little feet could be heard coming down the steps.

"Mommy?" Chloe's voice wafted down the stairs.

"Dada?" Henry called out in unison with Chloe's cries for Mommy.

Then they alternated.

"Daddy?" Chloe called out curiously.

"Mama?" Henry yelled.

All the excitement was too much for Joshua and he woke up and fussed just a bit from his bassinet in the living room.

Spence groaned and dropped his head on JJ's shoulder.

JJ laughed as she ran her fingers through Spence's hair. "Sorry baby, but it looks like the troops have spoken."

"You get Josh and I'll make Chloe and Henry breakfast?" Spence asked as he stepped out of the 'V' of JJ's thighs.

JJ nodded and hopped down off the counter. "Sounds like a plan… and then I'm going for my run and calling Morgan to see if he can work with me for a bit on hand to hand." She said, as she smacked Spence's ass and then turned to walk away into the living room to say good morning to the kids.

 

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Hotch walked down the hallway pinching the bridge of his nose as he banged on the bedroom door. "Avery, sweetie, its Daddy can you please turn the music down?" He sighed at not getting an answer and kicked in the door.

He stood in the middle of his daughter's bedroom, taking in the sight of the yellow walls, the playhouse in the corner, the butterflies hanging from the ceiling… and then he noticed in horror that his daughter wasn't in her room, and the bedroom window was open.

He raced across the room and looked out and down. To his horror Avery was climbing down a rope made from her purple bed sheets. "Avery Grace Hotchner, get you little butt in here right now!"

"No! You not da boss a me!" Avery yelled up as she continued rappelling down the side of the house.

Hotch's eyes widened as he watched Avery pick up a tree branch and toss it from one hand to the other, back and forth for a moment. Then she raised it up on her shoulder and ran at the moat dominating the Hotchner family's front yard, and planted one end of the branch in the ground and using it as a javelin, cleared the moat and ran down the driveway where a gang of toddlers was waiting with a get a way big wheel for her.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH" Hotch screamed as he sat straight up in bed.

"Aaron, wha….." Emily moaned as she rolled over in bed. At the sight of her husband dripping with sweat and holding his head in his hands, she assumed, rightfully so that he'd had a nightmare. She scooted up in bed to sit back against the headboard next to him and rubbed his back. "What was this one about? The Reaper? Doyle? Some other case?"

Hotch swallowed and turned his head to look at Emily. "Our daughter."

Emily looked confused. "You had a nightmare about Avery?"

Hotch scrubbed his hand over his face. "Yes… it was weird. Avery was…" Hotch continued as he explained his dream to his wife.

Emily was laughing so hard she was crying by the time Aaron told her about the gang of toddlers waiting with a big wheel as a get-away vehicle. "Honey, I think we've got a few years before we have to worry about her having her own gang and them knocking over the local 7-11 for candy and then getting away on their big wheels."

"Emily, this is serious." Aaron said as he glared at his wife. "The behavior she starts in childhood will follow her into adulthood if we don't put a stop to it."

Emily shook her head and laughed. "And I supposed you were wearing a suit and tie at 18 months?" she giggled as Aaron's brow furrowed deeper. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You have heard of the terrible twos haven't you?"

Aaron nodded cautiously.

"Honey, she's just starting them a little early. It doesn't mean we need to start putting bars on the windows. She testing her boundaries right now and pushing her limits… although I could see how that could make you feel like she was making a jail break... and I'm sure discussing the ever popular theme of installing moats to protect your daughters and nieces with Reid and Morgan over dinner the other night probably didn't help."

Aaron breathed in deeply as he calmed down and realized that he'd blown his dream out of proportion. "Okay… you're right."

"Aw… good answer honey," Emily responded as she leaned up and kissed her husband soundly on the lips. "and don't you forget it."

 

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Anderson stood in the break room pouring himself a cup of coffee when Reid walked in. "Coffee sir?" he asked holding up the pot.

Reid shook his head. "No thanks Anderson." He replied as he reached for a mug and a packet of tea. He turned and watched Anderson as he filled his mug with hot water and dropped in the tea bag. He played with string as he contemplated if he should say anything or not. Deciding that it was his responsibility to say something, he cleared his throat.

Anderson looked up from where he was adding cream and sugar into his coffee and waited patiently for Agent Dr. Reid to speak.

"I understand you're dating Rebecca?" Reid said as he leaned back against the counter of the break room.

"Yes sir." Anderson replied in confusion.

"You like her?"

"Yes sir." Anderson replied again.

"You respect her?" Reid asked.

"Of course sir." Anderson replied, more confused than ever with where this conversation was going.

"Good," Reid replied with a nod, "because she is like a little sister to me, so if you hurt her… well I don't know what I will do," Reid said as he stood up to his full height, towering over Anderson as he tucked his hand into his pocket next to his gun, "but I have three PHDs and degrees from Caltech and MIT… so it won't be good, at least not for you." Spence said and then took a sip of tea and watched Anderson over the rim of the cup.

Anderson swallowed thickly and nodded.

Elle all but swallowed her tongue from where she was paused in the doorway of the break room as she took in the scene before her. She glanced behind her to make sure that no one else had seen the scene play out in the break room. Seeing that no one else was aware of what was going on, she put a smile on her face and nonchalantly entered the break room.

"Morning Reid, Anderson." Elle said with a smile and a nod to both of them. "Save any coffee for the rest of us?" she asked.

Anderson glanced at the pot that he'd just emptied. "Oh, sorry ma'am… I was just about to make more." He said as he fumbled with replacing the filter in the coffee pot.

"Oh don't worry about it." Elle smiled, "this just means I'll get fresh sludge instead of hour old sludge."

Anderson chuckled nervously as he glanced about.

Reid was unsure about how to exit gracefully now that he'd said his piece. "I'm uh… going to um… go get to work on some files. See you later Anderson." Reid said and turned on his heal, taking a sip of tea as he headed back into the bullpen and for his desk.

Elle stood facing the counter with her fingertips resting on the edge as she watched Reid walk back to his desk. Then she turned to look at Anderson as he filled the coffee pot with water and then started to measure out the coffee into the filter. "Are you alright Anderson?"

"I'm fine ma'am." Anderson replied shakily.

"You know, I heard what Reid said to you. You know he's just being protective of Rebecca. She really is like a little sister to him and JJ. You know Reid; he wouldn't hurt a fly." Elle said trying to calm Anderson down.

"Actually ma'am, I think he meant exactly what he said. The fact that he never says things like that, that he's not a big talker like some of the agents, I think that speaks to the fact that when he does say something, you listen. He means what he says, and he says what he means." Anderson said as he paused to take a deep breath.

Elle tipped her head as she listened to Anderson.

"Sure he might not kick in doors like Agent Morgan, but he doesn't have to. Think about it, who on the team has taken a head shot when they had to and hit their target without even blinking."

Elle's eyes grew wide. Sure Reid had played his first headshot off as having missed what he'd aimed for, but Dowd had been holding an automatic weapon in a room full of hostages. She hadn't thought much about it at the time, but she highly doubted that Reid had really been aiming for Dowd's leg. JJ's dead accurate aim spoke for itself. The fact that both of them had put bullets between Foyet's eyes… well she was beginning to see why Anderson was concerned.

"He's right he has three PHDs and several degrees from Caltech and MIT… only an idiot or someone incredibly cocky would take him on." Anderson moaned as he dropped his head down on the counter. "I am an idiot."

Elle shook her head. "So you were lying when you answered Reid's questions?"

"Huh?" Anderson responded, lifting his head to look at Agent LaMontagne.

"So you don't like and respect Rebecca? You're just using her and taking advantage of her?" Elle asked.

"What?" Anderson replied in shock. "No! I would never… of course I like her and respect her." Anderson replied, flustered that Agent LaMontagne would even think such a thing about him.

Elle grinned. "Then what are you worried about?"

"I…" Anderson paused looking down into his coffee cup with a perplexed expression on his face for a moment. Then he looked up at Agent LaMontagne and grinned. "Thank you ma'am."

"You're welcome Anderson. Have a great day." She said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"I will ma'am. You do the same." Anderson replied with a nod as he collected his cup of coffee and headed back to his desk in the bullpen.

A quick peek out the door confirmed that Anderson was at his desk and no one else was headed this way. She glanced at the coffee pot. She had a few minutes to kill while she waited for it to finish brewing, so she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and hit the speed dial for JJ's phone. She was sure JJ was going to be highly amused by what her husband had just done.

 

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It was a late April Saturday, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining, and it was a perfect spring day in Alexandria Virginia, a perfect spring Saturday for soccer that is.

Haley and Emily sat together holding Seth and Avery with a stroller nearby while they watched as Aaron and Dave ran Jack and his teammates through a few drills to warm up for their game. Emily turned at the sound of someone sitting down on the bleachers next to her. "Hey, you guys made it!" Emily exclaimed happily at the sight of her teammates who were really more like family. "but aren't the kids going to be bored sitting still for so long?" she asked as she glanced between all of the families.

"Ah but that's the beauty of this field." Penelope said as she sat down next to Emily. "There's play equipment right over there," she said pointing to a children's playground not too far away. "So we," she indicated between herself, Elle, and JJ, "have decided that the Daddies will be taking the kids to play on the equipment for a little bit."

Morgan smiled at Avery who was sitting in her Mommy's lap. "Hey pretty girl. Do you and your brother want to come to the park with us?"

Avery's eyes lit up. "Mama I go?" she asked as she looked up at Mommy.

"Do you promise to listen to Uncle Derek and be good?" Emily asked.

Avery nodded eagerly.

Emily smiled. "Okay then you can go." She said standing up and handing Avery to Derek.

"Come on Seth, you and Billy can keep each other company." Will said scooping up Seth and depositing him in his stroller and then wheeling it over next to Billy's.

"Mommy, where's Jack?" Chloe asked as she leaned against Mommy's leg, watching while Mommy gave Joshua his binky.

JJ wrapped her arm around Chloe as she glanced up and looked across the field. "He's over there. He's going to play soccer, but we'll see him after his game okay? Are you going to the park with Daddy and Henry?"

Chloe nodded.

"Okay. Give me a hug and a kiss and I'll see you in a little bit okay?" JJ said as she reached down and scooped Chloe up in her lap.

Chloe wrapped her arms around Mommy in a hug and then leaned up and kissed her on the cheek. JJ kissed Chloe on the nose and then helped her as she scrambled to get down.

"My tuwn" Henry piped up as he reached for Mommy where he sat in Daddy's arms.

"Hey big boy" JJ said as she reached up and took Henry from Spence. "Are you excited about going to the park?"

"Uh huh" Henry nodded eagerly.

"Okay. Have fun and be good okay?" JJ asked.

"Uh huh. I be good." Henry replied and then giggled as Mommy wrapped her arms around him in a big hug and blew a raspberry on his cheek.

Haley smiled as she watched the few minutes of absolute bedlam as all of the kids hugged and kissed their Mommies goodbye and then headed off to the park with the Daddies.

"So did you get a chance to talk to Reid about Anderson yet?" Elle asked JJ as they were sitting watching the children on the field running up and down the field.

"No, this week just flew by, but I'm going to talk to him tonight. I know how much Bec like's Anderson, so I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon." JJ said not taking her eyes off the field. "Good pass Jack!" she cheered.

"So what's new with you Haley?" Penelope asked as she glanced up from Joshua's tiny face to look at Haley on the other side of Emily.

"Nothing much. Jack is excited to done with kindergarten next month and then it will be summer. I can't believe how old Jack is. It seems like just yesterday he was Joshua's size." She replied wistfully.

"I know." Penelope replied sadly. "They grow up way too quick, but sneaky lady, that's what's new with Jack. I asked what was new with you."

Haley blushed that her diversionary tactic didn't work. "I've been seeing someone new… but it's really new, so I don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much."

"Aw that's sweet." Penelope replied.

"Does he know that you have a child?" Emily asked.

"He does. He loves kids. He talks about how he's an honorary Uncle all the time. So we'll see how it goes." Haley said with a smile.

Penelope nodded. "What about you Wonder Woman?"

Emily turned to look at Penelope. "What about me PG?"

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You're really going to make me drag it out of you?" Penelope sighed and shook her head. "So Wonder Woman, what's new on the home front with you?"

Haley laughed and shook her head, remembering some of the more colorful stories about Penelope Garcia she'd heard from Aaron when they'd been married. She'd also heard what an asset she was to the team and how big her heart was. She smiled as she turned back to watch more of Jack's game.

"Well…" Emily hesitated, debating if she should share the story of Aaron's dream or not.

"Oh, this has got to be good. Dish sister." Penelope said leaning in to hear the story.

"PG" Emily whined and then took a deep breath realizing that fighting the inevitable probably wasn't worth it. "Okay, but I am only telling this story once, so get JJ and Elle's attention."

Penelope's eyes lit up, know it must be really, really good if Emily only wanted to tell the story once.

JJ laughed as Emily told them about Hotch's dream. "Wait… wait…" JJ said as she tried to catch her breath. "in his dream Avery was rappelling down the side of the house using bed sheets? Oh that is classic Em." JJ said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Elle chuckled, "I don't know, I sort of liked the part where she pole vaulted over the moat that Hotch, Morgan, and Reid built."

Haley shook her head and laughed. "Not me. My favorite part was her telling Aaron that he wasn't the boss of her."

Emily chuckled. "To be honest, that was sort of my favorite part too. How bad was Jack's terrible two phase?" she asked.

"Oh it was terrible!" Haley said. "If you didn't know better, you'd think toddlers suffered from multiple personality disorder. One minute he would be completely sweet and loving and the next it was like living with the devil incarnate."

Emily chuckled. "So maybe this isn't me Avery is taking after then…." She said thoughtfully.

"Or boss man just likes feisty women." Penelope added with a wink at Haley and Emily.

JJ shook her head. "I think it's more the age than genetics. Chloe and Henry have certainly had their moments. There was that meltdown a couple of weeks ago."

Emily, Elle, and Penelope all nodded sympathetically at JJ's tale of woe over Chloe and Henry's meltdown.

"What happened?" Haley asked.

"Oh… sorry" JJ said realizing that Haley wouldn't be familiar with the story, she told her about Chloe and Henry's meltdown at nap time. "And they've each had other moments. They've kicked, pinched, hit, bitten and been mean to each other more times than I can count, but they do get along really well most of the time. And they love each other, and Spence and I love them…. I think the point is Emily that everybody goes through it." JJ said thoughtfully.

"So it doesn't last forever then obviously." Emily said as she turned and watched Jack huddled up with his teammates listening to Daddy and Uncle Dave.

Elle laughed. "No eventually they'll go away to college."

The ladies all laughed and then turned back to watching Jack's game and cheering him on.

"Aw, you guys look tired." Penelope said as the group of Daddies and toddlers returned from the park.

Spence, Derek, and Will trudge tiredly over the remaining distance between their wives.

Chloe was holding hands with Henry. Henry was holding hands with Daddy. Spence was carrying Jake with his free arm. Morgan was carrying Avery in one arm and pushing Seth's stroller with the other. Will and Billy brought up the rear.

"Hi Jakey!" Penelope said cheerfully as Reid deposited her baby boy in her lap. "Were you good for Daddy and your Uncles?"

Jake nodded. "Swide!"

"You went on the slide?" Penelope asked.

"Uh huh" Jake nodded.

"How about the swing? Did Daddy take you on the swing?"

Jake nodded and then grunted and he twisted in Mommy's lap and climbed up on his knees to wrap his arms around her neck in a hug and rest his head on her shoulder.

"Aw, I missed you too Jakey." Penelope said as she kissed his head and cuddled him.

As Daddy was passing Jake over to Aunt Penelope, Chloe and Henry trotted over to Mommy.

"Hi guys. Did you have fun with Daddy, Uncle Derek, and Uncle Will?" JJ asked as she rubbed their backs as the leaned against her legs.

Henry nodded. "Mama I hunry."Henry said as Daddy sat down next to Mommy and scooped him up into his lap.

"Well…" JJ said as she dug through the ever parent survival kit, "how about some animal crackers? We're going to go for pizza for lunch as soon as Jack's game is over." She said as she handed a zip lock baggy with animal crackers in it to Spence.

Both kids cheered at the idea of pizza for lunch.

"Oo ant fome Cwoe?" Henry asked with his mouth full of animal cracker as he held an animal cracker out to his sister.

"Tank you Henry" Chloe said as she took the animal cracker from her brother.

"Here sweetie, come sit with Mommy and then you and Henry can share." JJ said as she lifted Chloe up into her lap.

"Mommy?" Chloe asked as she tipped her head back to look at Mommy.

"Yeah baby girl?" JJ said smiling as she looked down at her daughter's upside down face.

"Tan I sit next to Jack at pizza?" Chloe asked.

JJ chuckled. "Yes sweetie, you can sit next to Jack."

"Yay!" Chloe said cheered and then sat back up and munched on her animal crackers.

 

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"So," JJ said as she sat on their bed rubbing lotion on her legs as Spence walked out the bathroom and across their room. "A little birdie told me something interesting earlier this week." She said as her husband climbed up onto the bed with her.

"Hm, what's that?" Spence asked as he pulled JJ's leg into his lap and started to massage in the lotion, working his way from her knee to her ankle and back again.

JJ moaned at the leg rub and then pulled her leg back out of Spence's lap, knowing there was no way she'd be able to concentrate with him rubbing her legs. "I heard that you might have pulled the big brother routine on Anderson."

Spence tipped his head in thought. "I suppose I did."

"You do know that she is a grown woman and capable of making her own decisions about who to date, right?" JJ asked.

"I do… I just don't want to see her get hurt." Spence replied. "She's a part of our family… and I've never really had one of those before."

JJ reached over and took Spence's hand. "Baby it's really sweet and heartwarming that you are as protective of Rebecca as you are… but it's Anderson. Can you think of anybody who will treat her better than Anderson? Spence we worked together for seven years and I can't get him to stop calling me ma'am."

Spence winced at the realization. "I might have gone a little overboard huh?"

"More than just a little bit, baby." JJ said as she leaned up to kiss him. "Let's go to sleep. Who knows what time Joshua is going to wake up."

Spence reached over and turned off the lamp as JJ curled around into his side and the arm he had wrapped around her.


	15. Chapter 15

"Look at you hot mama!" Penelope teased as JJ sat down at the patio table of the restaurant the girls had agreed to meet at for Sunday brunch and then some early afternoon shopping.

JJ face scrunched up in confusion as she glanced down at her outfit, trying to figure out what Pen was commenting on. She was dressed casually in sandals, shorts, and a sleeveless top. "What?" she asked as she looked back up at Pen in confusion, her V-neck top might show a bit of cleavage, but it was by no means revealing.

"Look at those pipes!" Pen said and then whistled.

Emily smiled. "PG's is right Jay… what's your secret?" she teased, already knowing the workout routine JJ was putting herself through to not only lose the baby weight, but to also be ready to rejoin the team as a profiler.

JJ blushed slightly. "Knock it off. You both know it's from Yoga, Pilates, running, and all the other working out I've been doing."

Elle laughed. "Does kicking Morgan's butt around the gym count as all the 'other' working out you've been doing?"

"Hmm" Penelope murmured. "I really have to thank you for that… I love the fact that my man has been getting a harder work out at the gym than usually the last few weeks. He comes home all hot and sweaty and it totally gets my motor running." Penelope said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. "I'm sure it's done great things for you as well… dish." Penelope said with a large grin.

JJ laughed at Pen's antics and shook her head. "Oh trust me; the motivation is there, just not the opportunity."

Elle tipped her head in concern. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah" JJ answered pausing as their waitress brought their drinks. "It's only been a couple weeks since I had my doctor's appointment and got the all clear… and between cases and the kids… we just haven't had an opportunity." JJ shrugged. "It will happen… it's just…."

"Peaches, Reid's still… uh…" Penelope paused and made a face as attempted to figure out a euphemism to ask her question.

Luckily for them all, JJ realized where Pen was headed with her question. "Trust me Pen; Spence being into it is not the issue… me being into it is not the issue. Our timing, however… that seems to be the issue."

"Timing?" Emily asked with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Mm hm" JJ murmured in response as she took a sip of her water and glanced over the menu. She knew they knew exactly what she was talking about it. It was nothing new. They'd all experienced it at one time or another and discussed it. She smirked, knowing that they'd get a kick out of the story about last weekend. "So last Saturday I woke up and Spence wasn't in bed, so I got up and went looking for him. I found him in the kitchen…" JJ said as she began to tell a watered down version of what had happened last Saturday.

Elle and Emily chuckled at the Reid children spoiling their parents' fun by waking up at a most inopportune moment.

Penelope giggled. "So that's why Derek was especially exhausted when he got home from working on hand to hand with you… you took your frustrations out on my husband. I have to thank you for that… because you're loss was my gain." Penelope responded causing JJ to laugh. "Alright ladies," she said as she turned to look at Emily and Elle, "Our mission for this afternoon is to help our wonderful JJ prepare so that when the moment presents itself, she can pounce like the tigress we all know she is." Penelope as she glanced about the table.

Emily smirked, having been the victim… oops… center of PG's attention before in matters such as these she knew exactly what JJ was in for this afternoon. Reid wouldn't know what hit him… hmm... now that she thought about it... maybe she could pick up a little something to surprise Aaron with later this week.

Elle smiled and shook her head. Going lingerie shopping with Penelope was always entertaining as she thrust items into their hands. She'd always had a flair for the dramatic… and it seems lingerie shopping was not any different.

"I'd say I'm all good and don't really need help with being prepared, but I know that won't stop you from dragging me shopping," JJ replied with a smile at her best friends, "So where are we going?"

 

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"Hey, I'm home." JJ called out as she entered the house and sat down her purse and her shopping bags as she kicked off her sandals.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" Chloe said excitedly as she ran to the entry way to hug Mommy hello.

"Hey sweetie," JJ said as she scooped Chloe up and rested the little girl on her hip. "What are Daddy and your brothers doing?" she asked as she looked down into Chloe's brown eyes that matched her Daddy's.

"Changing Joshua" Chloe replied as she looked up at Mommy.

"Ah" JJ replied and then smiled as she looked up and saw her boys walking towards her.

"Hi Mama!" Henry greeted cheerfully and wrapped his arms around Mommy's legs. Then he noticed the shopping bags. "Pwesents?"

JJ laughed. "No presents buddy… but I did get us something fun." She said as she bent down and set Chloe on her feet next to Henry and then reached into one of the bags and pulled out two bottles of bubbles. "How about we go in the backyard and blow bubbles?" she asked with a smile as she handed a bottle to Henry and a bottle to Chloe.

"Yay!" Chloe and Henry cheered in unison.

JJ chuckled. "Okay let's go outside. Head for the deck, Daddy and I are right behind you." JJ said with a smile as she watched Chloe skip through the living room followed by Henry. Then she turned to look up at Spence. "Hi baby."

"Hi" Spence replied as he tipped his head down to kiss his wife hello while he held a sleeping Joshua in his arms. "So, no presents huh?" he asked as he eyed the familiar pink striped bag.

"Mm mm" JJ murmured against his lips. "That's a surprise for later… no peeking." She said as she picked up her shopping bag and headed for the stairs. She turned and smiled at Spence over her shoulder. "Meet you outside in just a minute."

"Okay buddy, you heard Mommy." Spence said as he looked down at Joshua. "Let's go outside with Chloe and Henry and blow some bubbles." He said as he headed for the deck door where Chloe and Henry stood patiently waiting, tightly gripping their bottles of bubbles.

JJ came down the stairs a few minutes later with Joshua's baby seat in hand as she stepped out on the deck. She sat down beside Spence and took Joshua from him and sat him in his chair in the shade. Then she and Spence turned to Chloe and Henry and opened their bubbles for them.

JJ and Spence watched and bit their lips so as not to laugh as they watched Chloe and Henry shake their bubble wands wildly in the air generating the occasional random bubble.

Henry pouted as he looked at Mommy. "It bwoken."

"Oh buddy, no its not. Come here let Mommy show you." JJ said pulling Henry into her lap and showing him to blow bubbles.

"Daddy?" Chloe asked sweetly.

"Yes princess?" Spence replied knowing what Chloe was going to ask.

"You help me?" She said flashing her big brown eyes at her Daddy.

"Sure princess." He said as he scooped her up into his lap and showed her how to blow through the bubble wand.

 

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"What do we know about the first victim?" Hotch asked Reid who was standing at the microscope studying the skeletal remains of the victims.

"You know that one is tough. He or she has been in the water so long they're mostly just bone fragments." Reid explained as he turned to look at the remains spread out on the table beside him. "I can attempt to reconstruct…"

"Three hours" Hotch said as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

Reid squinted, quickly did some calculations in his head. "I can do it in two." He said turning to look at Hotch.

"Make it one." Hotch said as he looked at the message on his phone and turned heading out to the evidence tent to talk to Rossi.

Zoe stood watching awe as Reid assembled what they had for remains from the first victim. She handed him pieces and helped as much as she could, but for the most part she just tried to stay out of his way as he hands flew across the table quickly twisting the jigsaw pieces of bone fragment as piece by piece actual bones began to appear on the table in front of them.

 

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Emily was glad she was wearing her sunglasses as she stood with off to the side of Morgan watching Aaron as he made his press statement about the unsub. He wasn't wearing a tie… his hair was freshly cut…. He was wearing his sunglasses…. 'Okay Emily, get it together. You need focus on the case' she thought to herself, mentally shaking herself out of her thoughts about her husband.

"At this moment it would be premature to comment on the details of the case." Hotch explained as he talked to the media. "Our goal is to identify and recover the remains as quickly as possible for the families involved. In order to expedite that, we're asking that the family or friends of people who went missing from the east coast since the year 2000 come forward. We'll be matching DNA to the remains. It will be helpful for us to have a personal item from each of the missing persons, an article of clothing, a hair brush, a blanket, a pillow case, photographs, or medical or dental records if you have them. We're also looking for items of significance to help us determine the last known whereabouts of each of the victims." Hotch continued.

Emily and Elle glanced at each other, knowing exactly what phone call Morgan was getting as he stepped away to answer his ringing cell phone. It had to be the hardest thing in the world for him and his family to go through this every time unidentified remains were discovered was what their look said to each other.

 

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It was a long three days as the team worked to bring in Blake Wells. It had become personal to Derek when he saw the remains of a twenty something African American female who died in 2004… and had progressed from there when his Aunt Yvonne showed up… so none of them were surprised when he sequestered himself in the corner of the jet on the flight home, put on his headphones, and closed his eyes.

Emily sat down in the seat next to Aaron's and leaned back relaxing into her seat as she sat watching her husband while he filled out paperwork.

After several moments of feeling his wife's eyes on him, he turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?" he asked softly, not wanting to disturb the rest of the team where they resting throughout the jet.

Emily smirked and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Oh when we get home, you most definitely can. I can't even begin to tell you how hot you make me when you don't wear a tie, roll up your sleeves and take charge of a situation, glare while wearing your sunglasses, and have a fresh haircut… the fact that all of happened in the last few days when I couldn't do anything about it because we were on a case… perfect storm honey… perfect storm." She murmured in a low, velvety sexy tone in his ear.

Then she sat back up straight in her seat and pulled out her own case file to finish as much of the paperwork for this case as she could before they got home. With any luck they wouldn't pull another case until next week and she could spend tomorrow and Friday making a dent in the pile of consults on her desk.

She smirked, quite pleased with herself as she watched her husband's grip go white knuckle on his pen as his Adam's apple bobbed. Perfect storm indeed.

 

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"Derek, baby what happened?" Penelope asked as her husband walked in their door and straight into her arms, burying his face in her blonde locks. She ran her fingers lightly over the back of his head. "Was it Cindi?" she asked softly.

Derek swallowed and shook his head against his wife's shoulder. Then he lifted his head with tears in his eyes and met hers. "No… the unsub… he gave away that Cindi was never one of his victims… but to end Aunt Yvonne's suffering and get her to move on… I told her that he picked out Cindi's picture as one of his victims." He choked out.

"Oh Derek" Penelope sighed, her hand cupping his cheek as her thumb ran over his cheek bone. She knew just how difficult that had been for him. His family meant everything to him. For him to lie to them, it had to be just tearing him up inside. "You did what you thought was best Derek." She said supportively as she wrapped her arms back around him and held him tight.

 

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"Hey" Spence whispered softly as he poked his head in Chloe's door where JJ was tucking the sleeping little girl into bed.

"Hi" JJ whispered back with a smile after sitting up from kissing Chloe on the forehead.

Spence padded quietly across the carpet and knelt down next to Chloe's bed, kissing his little girl on the forehead as he reverently ran his hand over her blonde curls. "Sweet dreams princess."

JJ smiled from where she sat on Chloe's bed next to the sleeping girl and rubbed her hand over Spence's back where he knelt next to her.

Together they stood up and exited Chloe's room. JJ shut off the light, leaving the room in the glow off Chloe's nightlight as she pulled the door partway closed. "Why don't you go kiss Henry goodnight and then we can spend some time with Josh until he falls asleep?"

Spence nodded and stepped down the hall to where Henry was happily ensconced in his submarine bed dreaming peaceful dreams. Spence knelt down next Henry bed and just watched him sleep for a moment, caught up in watching the rise and fall of his son's chest with each breath he took. Then he leaned down and kissed Henry on the forehead after brushing his blonde locks out of the way. "Goodnight buddy. See you in the morning." He whispered softly and then headed down the hall to find his wife and youngest son.

"Hey you" JJ said softly as she looked up from Joshua's face as he ate to see her husband standing in their bedroom door. "Why don't you go shower and change quick and join us?" she said as she patted the bed next to her.

Spence nodded and then stepped over to the bed, pausing next to it and leaning over to kiss JJ softly. "Be back in a few minutes." He said and then straightened up, and then passed through their walk-in closet to the bathroom.

Minutes later he was back and climbed into bed next to JJ as she passed their baby boy to him. "Hey Joshua… were you good boy for Mommy?" he asked the cooing baby boy as he placed his finger in the baby's palm and Joshua gripped onto it.

JJ smiled as she watched Spence make faces at Joshua. Josh's eyes grew wide and he giggled as Daddy leaned down and blew raspberries on his cheeks. His little legs kicked and his free hand waved about as he and Daddy played together.


	16. Chapter 16

"Thanks Emily" JJ as she looked up from helping Henry tie his shoes.

"You're welcome. Besides it's not like you and Reid haven't done the same for Aaron and me before." Emily said as she helped Chloe with her shoes. "Should we go see what Jack, Avery, and Seth are doing Chloe?"

"Yep!" Chloe nodded, excited at the prospect of a sleepover at Aunt Emily's and Uncle Hotch's.

Emily glanced at her godson. "How about you Henry? Ready to go?"

"Yep!" Henry nodded, popping his 'P' like he'd learned from Chloe, while proudly hanging onto the shoulder straps of his little backpack that contained his pjs, clothes for tomorrow, and a few must have toys. "Wes go!" he said eagerly, excited to get to play with Jack and Seth.

JJ smiled at Chloe and Henry's eagerness to go on their overnight play date. "Hey guys do I get hugs and kisses before you go?"

Henry stopped puzzled for a moment. "You not tomin' wit?" his little face screwing up in confusion a he looked from Mommy to Chloe to Joshua in his baby seat to Aunt Emily.

"No baby, remember you get to spend the night at Jack, Avery, and Seth's house." JJ explained. "Then Daddy, Joshua, and I will come and pick you up tomorrow and we'll go to the park."

Chloe walked over and stood next to Mommy and Henry. "Bye Mommy."

"Bye sweetie. Be a good girl for Aunt Emily and Uncle Hotch okay?" JJ asked as she wrapped an arm around Chloe.

Chloe nodded. "I will." Then she wrapped her arms around Mommy in a tight hug as Mommy kissed the top of her head.

Henry stood waiting his turn to hug and kiss Mommy goodbye, and then stepped up with his arms open wide as soon as Mommy let go of Chloe.

JJ smiled at Henry and pulled him into a hug and planted kisses all over his face causing the toddler to giggle. "You're going to be a good boy right?"

Henry nodded. "Yep, I bes good."

JJ smiled. "Okay little man. Have fun playing with Jack, Avery, and Seth." JJ said as she stood up. She rested her hands on Chloe and Henry's heads as she walked with them and Emily to the door. "Thanks again Em."

"Trust me, it's no problem JJ." Emily said and then held out her hands to Chloe and Henry. "Okay guys, let's go have some fun!"

JJ leaned against doorway, watching as Chloe and Henry walked across the driveway with Aunt Emily. She waved when Chloe and Henry turned and waved before Emily helped them climb into the SUV and into their car seats. She stood watching a few minutes longer until Emily backed the SUV out of the driveway. Then she turned around and closed and locked the door. She bent down and picked Joshua and his baby seat up off the floor. "What should we do this afternoon while Daddy is at the gym working out with Uncle Morgan baby boy?" she asked as she sat his chair on the table. She smiled as Joshua cooed and waved his arms.

 

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Spence opened the front door of the house, pausing at how quiet it was. He glanced down at his watch, double checking the time. Surely Chloe and Henry weren't still napping. If they were still napping right now they'd never go to bed tonight. He stopped at the laundry room and emptied his gym bag into the hamper and then went to look for his family.

He smiled when he entered the living room and saw Joshua lying on his tummy on the floor on his baby blanket. JJ laid facing him and making funny faces while Josh looked back at Mommy. "Hey" he said softly, kneeling down next to JJ and rubbing his hand across her back as he lowered himself down to lay on his stomach as well.

JJ smiled and turned her head to look at her husband. "Hey, how was the gym?"

"Good… but I think Morgan took you kicking his butt out on me while we were working out." Spence said as he flexed his foot to stretch his calf.

"Poor baby" JJ teased and then leaned over on her elbow and kissed him softly. Then she turned to look at Josh. "Hey baby boy did you see Daddy's home?" she cooed softly getting Joshua's attention.

"Hey big guy what did you and Mommy do today? Huh? And what about your brother and sister where are they? Huh?" Spence asked.

Josh made a cooing sound at the sound of Daddy's voice and happily kicked his legs, his head wobbling as he turned it toward the sound of Daddy's voice.

JJ smiled as she reached out and ran her hand over the soft blonde hair that covered Josh's head. "Chloe and Henry are having a sleepover with Jack, Avery, and Seth. Em picked them up a few hours ago. I told Chloe and Henry we'd go to the park after we picked them up tomorrow."

"Yeah? So it's just us and munchkin number 3 for the night?" Spence asked as he glanced at JJ.

JJ nodded in response as she shook a multi-colored rattle in front of Joshua.

"Wow… did you hear that buddy? All kinds undivided attention from Mommy and Daddy for you tonight. What should we do first?" Spence asked Joshua.

Joshua laid his head down on his blanket as he wiggled on his belly.

"He must be tired from holding his head up." JJ said as she sat up and picked Joshua up and moved him to lie on his back.

Joshua giggled as Mommy tickled his belly and then squealed in delight as Mommy and Daddy both hovered over him, playing with him.

 

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"Joshua is down for the count." Spence said as he came down the stairs and into the living room where he'd left JJ sitting on the couch. "Want me to make dinner so you can…" he trailed off at the sight of his wife in the living room.

While her husband had been rocking Joshua to sleep and tucking him in for what would hopefully be a full night's sleep, JJ had taken advantage of the time to go change into some of the new lingerie she'd purchased last weekend on her girls day out.

"What's wrong baby… don't you think we deserve a little undivided attention from each other?" JJ asked from where she sat on the ottoman, her legs crossed, while she leaned over to rest her elbow on the arm of the chair, her chin resting in the palm of her hand as she smiled up at her befuddled husband.

"I… uh… yeah… um…" Spence rambled as he took in the incredibly sexy sight of his wife. It wasn't that he hadn't seen her like this before, as after dating, marriage, and three babies, he most definitely had. It was the fact that he hadn't been expecting it that caught him off guard.

JJ smiled at her completely and totally adorkable husband as she uncrossed her legs and stood up.

Spence's breath caught in his throat. The short midnight blue silky robe his wife was wearing fell open revealing the teddy underneath as she walked towards him.

JJ smirked, knowing she'd made the right decision while shopping last weekend.

She'd been looking through baby doll night gowns when Pen had dragged her away from the rack and over to the much more racy teddies on a nearby rack. She'd shaken her head and refused to try on any of the barely there teddies Pen had held up , defiantly crossing her arms with her blonde haired best friend held up one that consisted of little more than ribbons. Her personal opinion was that it would be sexier to be wearing nothing at all than something like that… and then Pen had pulled out a vintage satin and lace teddy that was very classy and sexy at the same time.

It was white satin and midnight blue lace trimmed the legs and bust. Midnight blue straps went over her shoulder crisscrossed in the back, and now that she was standing up and walking towards her husband the short matching midnight blue robe that she had purposefully neglected to tie fell open.

JJ grabbed Spence's hand and stepped backwards, leading him towards the couch. She reached out and took the baby monitor from his hand and set it on the end table as she pulled Spence down onto the couch.

Spence followed JJ, his eyes scanning up and down JJ's body as his feet followed hers. Spence finally managed to find his voice as his wife pulled him down on the couch next to her. "JJ you look amazing."

JJ smiled at Spence. "So you like it then?"

Spence nodded enthusiastically.

JJ bit her lip seductively. "Good. I thought you would…" she murmured as she stretched up to kiss him and laid her legs across his lap.

Spence moaned into the kiss as he tipped his head down to meet JJ's and ran his hand up and down the smooth skin of her toned naked thigh, his thumb rubbing small circles into her warm skin.

JJ moaned in approval as Spence's lips pressed ardently against hers, his tongue tracing teasingly along the seam of her lips and then pausing to suck and nibble on her lower lip once her lips parted.

Spence languidly drug his tongue along the roof of his wife's mouth teasing the sensitive center ridge of her palate and enjoying the moan that came from low in her throat as their make-out session continued.

After some time, JJ's neck started to cramp from being tipped up towards Spence. She pulled her legs from his lap and drew them up underneath her, rising up on her knees above him. She pulled her lips from his for a moment to look into his beautiful brown eyes… the eyes she loved so much. She ran her fingers through her husband's hair from his temple and down behind his ear to the back of his skull, her nails scratching along his scalp as she hovered above his lap, her forehead resting against his.

Spence was lost in his wife's brilliant blue eyes as she hovered above him. His hands slid up her thighs, his fingers enjoying the variation in textures as they moved from JJ's thighs to her hips and across the delicate lace and sensual satin that encased them. His fingers flexed caressing the silky satin into her skin.

JJ moaned softly as Spence's fingers gripped her hips and rubbed the satin of her teddy against her skin. "Spence, baby…mmm" she moaned, nipping lightly at his lip and his chin. She nibbled her way along his jaw. She nuzzled at his ear as she lowered herself down into his lap, her knees and thighs gripping his hips as her fingers began to work at the buttons of his shirt.

"Oooh JJ" Spence groaned low in his throat, his fingers flexing on her hips, as JJ's breath brushed past his ear, her nose graze the shell of his ear, and she nibbled on his earlobe.

JJ alternated between pressing kisses to Spence's neck and nuzzling his ear as she pulled his shirt out of his pants and continued to unbutton it. As she reached the last button, she slid her hands inside his shirt, her hands exploring his back and mapping the landscape of muscle and bone as her lips moved across his collar bone and up the other side of his neck, her teeth grazing lightly along his pulse point and causing him to shiver and moan.

Spence released his grip on his wife's hips as she settled into his lap and his hands slid back down her thighs and then up again, pausing at the tops of her thighs as he traced the lace edges of her lingerie, his thumbs slipping just under the edge. As he pulled his thumbs free, he slid his hands up to her satin covered ass, caressing softly as he had to imagine that the satin felt as good against JJ's skin as it did against his. His hands moved up her back, hiding under her satin robe, as they traced the lace trim between her shoulder blades and the delicate straps. Then his hands slid to the sides of her ribcage, his thumbs resting just under her bust as his fingers traced random patterns into the satin.

JJ alternated running her tongue along the lobe of Spence's ear and nibbling. Her teeth grabbed hold of his ear lobe and tugged gently once, twice, three times. Then she released his earlobe, and whispered "I love you baby" softly in his ear, her warm moist breath brushing past his ear and then like a ghost, it was gone as she began to press soft kisses along his jaw and cheek until she reached his lips.

Spence's lips eagerly met JJ's, the kiss continuing in depth and passion, until air became a necessity for them both and they were left gasping for a moment in each other's arms. Then Spence kissed JJ's chin, her jaw, her neck, her neck again, and again, and again.

As Spence pressed light, teasing kisses along her chin, jaw, and neck, JJ's finger's gripped his shoulder with one hand while the fingers of her other hand gripped the back of his head, twining with his hair as her head tipped back granting her husband's exploring lips, more room to roam.

Spence's hands moved to cup his wife's lace covered breasts, his thumbs teasing her nipples through the lace as they continually grazed them and drew circles. Then his hands moved up to her shoulders and grasped the collar of her robe and began to draw it down her shoulders.

JJ released her grip on Spence's shoulder and head, moving her arms behind her as Spence ever so slowly removed her robe.

Spence leaned forward and kissed his wife's chest as he slipped her robe off her shoulders and down her arms. However, he didn't let her robe drop off her arms once he had it off her shoulders; instead he controlled the lowering of her robe, dragging it slowly down her arms. When he reached her elbows, he stopped, distracted in kissing her chest as he held the robe tightly in his grip.

JJ moaned. Her arms were now trapped behind her in the confines of the robe that Spence had paused in removing while his lips moved across her chest. She bit her lower lip and her hips bucked against her husband's groin as he kissed his way along the lace edge bordering the top of her teddy. Then his lips and tongue began kissing her through the lace, the rough texture of the lace pressing against the soft skin of her breasts and causing her to shudder as Spence nipped, licked, kissed, and nuzzled her breasts through the lace. "Spence, oh god baby" she whined softly, her back bowing as Spence gripped the robe more tightly. He continued to explore her lace covered chest, and ground back against her as she pressed against him, gripping his hips with her thighs.

Spence released his hold on his wife's robe and let it drop behind her.

JJ's freed arms wrapped around her husband's shoulders, the fingers of one hand trailing through his hair as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Spence, baby… I think… oh god baby…" she moaned as he continued to nuzzle her breasts, "baby… I think we'll be more comfortable in bed."

Spence nodded against her chest, letting her know that he'd heard her request. He kissed his way up her chest to her shoulder. He rested his forehead on her shoulder for a moment, allowing himself to calm down before lifting his head to look JJ in the eye. "I love you." He murmured against her lips as he leaned forward to kiss her. Their kiss lingered as he gripped her ass and stood up with JJ in arms. Then she lowered her legs to the floor. The kiss however, continued on for a few moments longer as JJ leaned against Spence.

JJ broke the kiss and took Spence by the hand, leading him up the stairs to their bedroom. It was all Spence could do to remember to grab the baby monitor from the end table next to the couch.

 

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JJ led Spence up the stairs and down the hallway, pausing to peek in on Joshua and see that their baby boy was peacefully sleeping before leading Spence across the hall to their bedroom.

Spence followed silently in JJ's wake, his bare feet padding across the carpet until they came to a stop in their bedroom.

JJ stopped and turned to face Spence as they reached their bed. Her hands rested on his waist as she looked up at him.

Spence lifted a hand to run his fingers through JJ's hair, brushing it back from her face as he stared down into her eyes. "JJ, you are so beautiful… you just keep getting more and more beautiful the longer I know you… and I… I can't imagine what it ever was that you saw in me, but I'm glad that whatever it was, you saw it. I just… I love you." He murmured as he stepped closer.

"I love you too baby. I'm not sure how I lived through the last six and a half years without you last time… but I'm glad I had you with me this time." JJ replied and then leaned up on her tip toes to kiss her husband as her fingers clutched his shirt.

Spence bent his knees slightly and wrapped his arms tightly around JJ's waist. Then he stood back up straight, carrying her to their bed. He sat her down on the edge of the bed and stood in the 'V' of her legs.

She tugged at his shirt, pulling the shirt and sleeves down his arms and tossing it off to the side. The rolled up cuffs slipped over his wrists as he released his hold on her waist. Then she leaned forward and kissed his chest right over his heart as her nimble fingers expertly released his belt buckle, opened the snap, and pulled down the zipper of his khakis. She grinned, looking up at Spence as her hands slipped inside the opening of his pants. She cupped his ass and hooked her thumbs into the waist band of his boxers and pulled down, her fingers trailing along his backside and thighs as she pushed his pants and boxers down past his knees.

Spence groaned as his wife's fingernails scraped seductively down the back of his thighs. His eyes locked with hers as he kicked his feet and legs free of his pants. He stepped closer to her and his hands slipped up her thighs and around her back around her back. His fingers searched for the hidden zipper, clasp, or closure that would all him to remove his wife's very sexy lingerie. He really liked it and he definitely wanted to see her in it again, that was the only reason he wasn't ripping it off her right now.

JJ smirked as Spence stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her, fumbling for what she guessed to be the zipper of her teddy which was hidden in the lace on the back. She gripped his thighs and lightly scratched, dragging her fingers up his thighs to rest her hands on his ass. She leaned forward and kissed his stomach just below his belly button. Then she kissed his hip and smiled against his skin as his hips jerked forward. She nipped lightly at his hip and then laved the skin with her tongue.

Spence's fingers gripped JJ's back as she nipped, licked, and kissed her way across his lower belly. He forgot about figuring out how to get his wife's lingerie off her when she looked up at him and winked as she wrapped her hand around him.

JJ squeezed gently as she moved her hand slowly up and down Spence's shaft, her thumb tracing the vein on the underside, while her other hand cupped his balls, her fingers rolling them back and forth.

It was all Spence could do to remain standing as JJ rose off the bed, pushing him back as she sank to her knees. Then he felt JJ's lips wrap around him as her tongue swirled around the head of his cock. "Nnnghh JJ… oh god babe." He mumbled as one hand slid to JJ's shoulder and his other hand slipped up her neck, cupping the side of her head as his fingers threaded into her hair, massaging her scalp.

JJ looked up at Spence from underneath her eyelashes making and holding eye contact as she her tongue swept random patterns along his length.

Spence's gaze was fixed on JJ's hooded eyes as his thumb traced her jaw line. Then she started to hum. "Nnnngggghhhh" Spence moaned, gasping for breath as he attempted to not lose control. "Babe, oooooh…. JaaaayJaaaay… baby you … oh… you gotta stop." He groaned, attempting to pull away, knowing that if JJ didn't stop he was going to lose it.

JJ smirked, choosing to ignore his request as her fingers, lips, and tongue continued to dance along his aroused flesh.

The sound of blood rushing in his veins and arteries filled his ears as tip of JJ's nose brushed against him. He almost forgot to breathe as he stared down in wonder at his wife and ran his fingers through her hair.

JJ moaned low in her throat, enjoying the fact that it caused Spence to shudder and release a moan of his own as his eyes fell closed in pleasure. She could tell he was close. She could feel him trembling, and she knew just how to push him over the edge.

Spence whimpered as JJ's delicate fingers once again wrapped around his balls, lightly tickling and teasing. Then he gasped in surprise as two of his wife's fingers slipped behind his balls, at first lightly scratching and then pressing on his perineum and in turn his prostate. The sensations all becoming too much for him as his body went into sensation overload.

JJ hollowed her cheeks, increasing the suction as she worked to push her husband over the edge and earning satisfaction as she watched his eyes go wild and his mouth gasping for air. She felt his toes curl into the carpet beside her knees and his grip tighten as his fingers flexed on the back of her head.

Spence fought against the tide every step of the way, until eventually it became too much. His hips jerked as he fought to maintain eye contact with his wife. "JJ, babe… I'm gonna… oh God..." Spence grunted as his balls tightened, his hips twitched, his back arched, and he came hard. "JJ, baby… oh God." He cried out his release, fighting every instinct to close his eyes so that he could maintain eye contact with his wife.

JJ swallowed eagerly as she felt Spence twitch on her tongue. She rubbed his thigh, her nails scratching lightly along his skin, and continued to work her lips and tongue along his length until he went completely soft in her mouth. As he slipped out of her mouth, she raised her hand and daintily wiped her lips and winked at Spence. "Mmmm" she moaned as she leaned forward to kiss his hip.

"God babe" Spence gasped, grasping JJ's shoulders for support as he wobbled on his feet from the strength of his orgasm. He quickly found sure footing and pulled JJ to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, squeezing her ass as he planted a deep lingering kiss on her lips. He begged for entrance to her sweet mouth with his tongue and sighed in pleasure as his tongue met hers in a passionate tangle.

JJ wrapped her arms around her husband's shoulders, losing herself in his intimate kiss, her eyes closing in bliss as their kiss continued and grew in intensity.

Spence gripped JJ's ass, cupping and squeezing as he backed her up to their bed, their kiss continuing on. Then he broke the kiss as he once again lifted her up, placing her on their bed. This time, however, Spence climbed up on the bed on his hands and knees and followed JJ as she scooted across the bed. Once she reached the headboard, JJ rose up onto her knees and reached behind herself, unhooking and unzipping her teddy.

Spence sat up on his knees, pulling JJ close as he wrapped his arms around her. He tipped his head down and lingered a hair's breadth away from her lips. "I love you JJ… so much…"

"I love you too baby." JJ murmured and then closed the distance between them as she pressed her lips again his. Her arms wrapped around his back, her fingers gripping the muscles and tracing the line of his spine as her hands roamed up and down the length of his back as the kiss deepened. She whimpered as Spence pulled away and began to kiss down the column of her throat to her collar bone.

Spence kissed across her shoulder. He trailed his fingers lightly up and down his wife's upper arms, until finally he slipped them up onto her shoulders and underneath the delicate straps of her teddy. He kissed the spot where the straps had rested on each of her shoulders and then lowered the straps down her arms.

JJ unwound her arms from around her husband's back to free herself from the straps of her lingerie, the top half of the teddy falling to her waist.

Spence's lips found JJ's again as he pushed the satin and lace off her hips and down her legs, causing it to pool at her knees.

JJ wiggled her legs free and kicked the satin and lace Spence had just divested her of to the side of the bed.

Spence crept backwards on his knees, pulling JJ with him as he continued their kiss. He wrapped an arm around her waist as he guided her to lie down on their bed. He rested his forehead against hers for just a moment as they both caught their breath, and then he slowly and tantalizingly kissed his way down her body. He paused to ever so briefly kiss and nuzzle her breasts before continuing to kiss his way down her body.

JJ squirmed as he pressed feather lite kisses to her torso. His lips brushed over her breastbone, ever so softly across her breasts, and down her belly. Her breathing sped up. Her fingers clutched at his hair and his scalp as he lowered his forehead to rest on her belly, his breath ghosting over her curls as he breathed deeply and slowly, savoring the moment.

"Spence, baby please…" JJ whined nudging his shoulder with her thigh, wanting him to do something… anything. The anticipation was killing her and she tugged lightly on his hair to get him to look up at her.

Spence lifted his head at JJ's coaxing and took in the needy expression on her face. He smiled at her as he wiggled lower on the bed, kissing her hip and then turning his head and placing long, lingering open mouthed kisses along her inner thigh. He alternatively nipped lightly and then swept his tongue out to sooth the abused flesh, all the while maintaining eye contact with JJ.

The sound of her own blood rushing in her ears and her rapid shallow breathing as she became more and more aroused were the only sounds JJ heard as she watched her husband mesmerized by his eyes.

Spence kept his eyes on JJ, watching her reaction as he redirected his attention and swiped his tongue along the length of her center, being mindful of remaining gentle as he didn't want to hurt JJ ever, but especially since it was their first encounter since Joshua had been born.

JJ gasped in surprise at the feeling of Spence's tongue on her, her fingers clenching against his scalp as her hips lifted to meet his eager to please lips and tongue.

Spence moaned, shifting his hips against the bed, growing aroused again at JJ's reaction and how much she was enjoying his ministrations.

JJ moaned as Spence's tongue swirled, twirled, sucked and licked across her tender flesh. He teased and tormented her sensitive nub and then abandoned it, only to return moments later with renewed fervor, driving her to new heights, taking her to the edge only to leave her there hovering on the brink as he once again released her clit and placed gentle kisses along the crease of her thighs as he allowed her to simmer for a moment.

Spence watched her carefully as he returned his mouth to cover her nub once more flicking his tongue across it as he looked at her writhing and twitching with pleasure on the pillows of their bed. He ever so gently added more pleasure to the mix as he lightly traced and teased her opening and then slipped two fingers inside her, curling them towards her front as he sought and the found his wife's Grafenberg spot and massaged and prodded gently as he felt her legs tense next to his shoulders.

JJ whimpered; her head tossing on the pillow as Spence kept her on edge, but not allowing her to crest the peak. She gasped and panted as his fingers entered her and began teasing her inner walls. Her legs tensed and her back bowed slightly as his fingers found their target.

Spence smirked as his wife arched beneath him, causing his teeth to graze ever so slightly over her sensitive nub. That was all the only catalyst needed to set off the chain reaction he'd been building his wife towards.

JJ screamed "SPENCE! Oh my God… baby oh baby… oh" and trembled as Spence catapulted her towards the heavens. Her muscles tensed. Her back bowed. Her skin beaded with sweat.

Spence gently stroked his free hand up and down his wife's side and thigh as he coaxed her through her orgasm, riding the tide with her as she reached the heavens and then ever so slowly floated back to earth.

JJ sagged back against their bed, panting as her body and mind returned to the earthly plane. She reached out for her husband, running her fingers lightly through his hair and dragging her nails across his scalp.

He removed his lips from her nether region and kissed her hip. He slowly pulled his fingers, coated in her essence, from within her and lifted them to his lips licking them clean as his eyes bored into hers.

JJ shuddered with desire, looking in Spence in the eyes as he licked his fingers, licked his lips, and then he lowered his lips to place random light kisses across her torso as he crawled up her body, his body dragging deliciously along hers.

"Hi" Spence murmured as his hips settled into the cradle of his wife's thighs and he rested his forehead against hers, staring deeply into her eyes.

"Hi" JJ replied softly, wrapping her arms around Spence and tracing random patterns with her fingernails as they skimmed across his back and his ass as she tilted her head up to kiss him softly, sucking on his lower lip as they lay entwined together focused only on each other, losing all sense of time as their hands roamed, caressed, and teased as they continued making love.

 

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Sometime later they lay breathless and sweaty in each other arms, gasping for breath.

"Mmm Spence" JJ moaned as he kissed her neck and shoulder, her hand cupping the back of his head and holding him close.

"Hmm?" Spence murmured in response.

"Baby, I'm starving." JJ replied.

Spence laughed as he buried his face in her throat and then grinned as he looked up at her from underneath his messy, bedhead, sex hair bangs. "Well then, let's go feed you." he said lifting himself up off JJ and standing up off the bed. He held out a hand and helped JJ off their bed.

JJ accepted Spence's hand and then bent over and picked up his shirt and his boxers from the floor. She stood back up just as his stomach grumbled. "Sounds like I'm not the only one who's starving." She said leaning up to kiss him as she pressed his boxers into his hand. She smirked and smacked his ass as she turned on her heels and left their bedroom, heading for the stairs, pulling on his shirt and buttoning it up as she went.

Spence grinned as he half stepped, half hopped into his boxers in his eagerness to catch up with his wife.

 

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"Thanks for cooking baby." JJ said leaning back over her shoulder to kiss her husband, as she put the last of the dishes they'd used for their late dinner away.

Spence pulled the dish towel out of JJ's hands and rested his other hand on her hip and turned her to face him. "You, my blushing bride, are very welcome." He said as he tossed the dish towel off to the side.

JJ tossed her head back and laughed. "I'm hardly a blushing bride at this point baby…" She said smiling up at him as she rubbed his bare chest.

Spence quirked an eyebrow at her as if accepting a challenge, and then lifted spun her around and lifted her up to sit on the counter top of the island. "You know the only thing I like better than when you wear my clothes?" he asked in a low tone of voice as he stepped between her legs, his hands spanning her thighs.

JJ bit her lip at the heat and intensity burning in her husband's swirling emotion filled brown eyes as she felt the spark ignite between them again. "No…" she answered somewhat breathlessly as she studied his eyes for the answer, "what?"

"When you're wearing nothing at all." He replied as his hands grasped either side of the placket of his shirt clothing his wife's body, and pulled sending button flying in every direction as he slid his shirt down her shoulders and off her arms, tossing it off into the corner of the kitchen floor.

JJ gasped in surprise at Spence's aggressive move and then groaned low in her throat. She absolutely loved when he was like this. It happened occasionally at work… and that was a turn on, but she absolutely was ready to throw herself at him when his aggressive, take charge, side came out at home.

Spence stepped back out of JJ's legs and lifted them, turning her sideways and releasing her legs to rest on the counter. He quickly shucked his boxers and kicked them off to join his ruined shirt in the corner of the kitchen. Then, he turned to face away from JJ and the counter and leaned back bracing his hands on the counter and lifted himself up onto the counter.

JJ watched wide eyed as Spence turned to face her, one of his legs dangling off the side of the island while his other leg lay on the counter. She gasped in surprise as Spence grabbed onto her legs behind her knees and pulled her close, her thighs resting over the top of his.

Spence held onto his wife's legs, his finger's lightly gripping her soft skin as he leaned forward to kiss her softly.

She braced one hand behind her, holding herself up, while she raised the other hand to grip her husband's shoulder.

He leaned farther forward as the kiss deepened, easing JJ back to lie on the counter.

JJ shuddered at the feeling of the cool counter top behind her and Spence's warm body above her.

Spence let go of one of JJ's thighs, lifting his newly freed hand to cup her head and protect it from the hard surface of the granite countertop. He wrapped the leg he was gripping around his waist as he ground his burgeoning erection against JJ. He pulled his lips away from hers. "How about now are you blushing now?" he shifted to be able to whisper in her ear.

"Spence, oh god baby" JJ gasped as he ground his erection against her.

"I love you JJ" Spence murmured as he continued to nuzzle her ear.

"I love you too baby" JJ moaned as she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders.

"You smell amazing" he said as he buried his face in her hair, "and you taste amazing," he groaned as he ran his tongue along the shell of his wife's ear.

JJ whimpered as she gripped Spence's hips with the leg that he had wrapped around his waist. Her other leg flexed against Spence's thigh as his hips paused in their movements.

"and you feel, god babe you feel… you're so hot and wet" He growled as he let go of JJ's thigh to reach down and adjust himself, "and tight… oh fuck." He groaned in her ear as the length of his erection slid into her warm moist depths. It took every ounce of control he had to pause and let his wife adjust as he lifted his head and kissed her.

JJ panted as she bucked her hips, urging Spence to move for the love of God. "Baby move, fuck… please… baby… oh God…"

"Since you asked so nicely for me to please fuck you…" Spence whispered in her ear and then smirked, "how about now… are you blushing now?" he teased as he slowly pulled his hips back and lifted his head to look into his wife's eyes and then ran his eyes up and down her body as he slowly sank back into her depths. "I do believe that you, my lovely bride, are blushing." Spence teased as he took in the view of JJ's body that was flushed with a sex glow from head to toe.

"So not… oh baby… not fair." JJ groaned as Spence continued with the agonizingly slow pace he was setting. "You feel so good baby…" JJ moaned as she rolled her hips, grinding against Spence as they met thrust for thrust. "Spence… faster… please baby… fuck." JJ groaned as Spence bottomed out in another agonizingly and deliciously slow, but powerful thrust, his cock dragging across her as they moved in time with each other.

Spence rolled his hips and picked up the pace, eager to please his wife and to be honest just eager in general. He lowered his mouth back down next to her ear. "Do you like that babe? Is that better?"

"Mm hmm" JJ moaned, nodded against Spence's cheek as he continued to breathe into her ear.

They continued to keep pace with each other, each murmuring, moaning, and whispering in the other's ear as they clutched onto one another, their bodies moving in time with each other.

Spence, seeing that JJ was close, grew concerned about her thrashing her head against the counter in the midst of her orgasm and wrapped his arms tight around her, rising up onto his knees and then sitting down, rendering JJ now on top and in control.

JJ grinned at the change in position as she sat in her husband's lap, facing him. She flexed her legs that rested across his thighs and used her arms as leverage as she raised and lowered herself, the new angle causing Spence's hard length to reach spots he hadn't been before. She released one arm from around his shoulders, and raised her hand to cup his cheek. Her fingers trailed lovingly over his face. Her thumb traced his lips. Her eyes fixated on his as she swiveled her hips, grinding against her husband.

Spence gripped JJ's hips as she rose and fell above him, his hips continuing to thrust to meet hers, grinding his hips up to press against hers as hers came down to meet his. He watched as her eyes sparked and ignited with blue fire as she trembled in his arms. Her head tossed back in a silent scream as a powerful orgasm ripped through her body.

The wave of her orgasm crashed down on them both and he was sucked into the undertow, caught in the riptide of her orgasm. He pulled her close and cried out, his voice cracking "JJ!" as he was caught in the flotsam and jetsam of his own haven of bliss. His hips jerked spastically losing all rhythm as their bodies instinctually sought to be as close together as possible.

JJ collapsed against Spence, panting in his arms as she attempted to regain her breath.

Spence trailed his fingers though JJ's hair. His lungs sucked in large quantities of air, attempting to find equilibrium and return their oxygen levels and breathing to normal.

"I don't know" JJ said lifting her head to look at Spence, "about you, but I will never look at this kitchen counter the same way again." She said as she ran her fingers through his hair and then traced her pointer finger down his nose as she leaned and gave him a soft lingering kiss that spoke of a deep and abiding love.

Spence grinned. "I know I will definitely smile whenever I look at this kitchen counter… but now how about a nice hot bath and then bed so that we can be up at the crack of dawn with Joshua?" he asked as he ran a hand up and down her back in a soothing manner.

"That sounds divine baby. And just so you know… if I'm still a blushing bride after all our time together, it's only because I'm married to you." JJ said rising up to her knees to be eye level with Spence and then leaning her forehead against his. "I love you now and forever."

Spence swallowed as the emotion welled up in his chest, threatening to overwhelm him. "I love you too JJ, always."

Then he lifted JJ's leg off to the side and slid off the counter. He turned and scooped JJ up off the counter and carried her bridal style out of their button littered kitchen and up the stairs to the large bathtub waiting for them in their bathroom.

 

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And the weeks passed by…

 

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"You look like you could use this cara." Dave said handing his wife a glass of wine as she walked into their kitchen, having just have arrived home from a grueling day.

"Thank you David" Erin replied, leaning up to kiss her husband and then she took a sip of wine. "Mm, this is very good."

Dave grinned at his wife. "I'm glad you like it. Rough day at the office?"

"Ugh…" Erin groaned as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "It's been very time consuming. We have to be extra cautious not to tip off whoever it was that might have been Ian Doyle's mole. We have one shot at this and if whoever it is finds out that we're on to them, they most likely have the resources to cover their tracks or even take flight and avoid capture for years."

Dave nodded his head and sat his glass of wine on the counter and then stepped behind his wife and rubbed her shoulders. "I have no doubt that you will lead the task force in discovering who the mole is and apprehending them." He whispered in her ear. "After all, no one escapes justice on Erin Rossi's watch." He said in reference to the successes she'd had over the course of her career, which had of course led to her being selected to head up the multi-departmental task force that consisted of some of the FBI's best and brightest agents from several different divisions.

"Thank you for having so much faith in me David." Erin said as she turned her head to rest her cheek on his chest. "It is simultaneously exhausting and frustrating. Attempting to follow the money from Doyle to the mole hasn't gotten us anywhere. The bugs we recovered from Aaron's office and the round table room proved to be from a lot sold to RadioShack."

Dave turned his head to kiss his wife's temple. "So whoever our mole is was familiar enough with the equipment to know what they needed and get it from a source where it couldn't be traced back to them."

"And of course our mole might not even be the person who placed the listening devices." Erin continued. "Whoever was helping Doyle would need to be highly placed in order to be helpful to Doyle. The individual or individuals who placed the listening devices could have been acting on what they thought to be lawful orders."

"Damn. So you aren't any closer to finding the people involved and responsible?" he asked.

"Oh I didn't say that," Erin replied as she turned to face Dave, "just that its taking a long time. We're still searching for that big break. Interviewing Doyle hasn't led anywhere, although considering he was in a North Korean political prison for seven years, we really didn't expect it to."

Dave nodded his head. "Sometimes it takes time… years even. We don't like it, but it's the way that it is." He said thinking back on some of the more lengthy cases he'd dealt with over the years.

 

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And the weeks passed by…

 

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"Good morning birthday boy." Emily said as she stood in front of Seth's crib.

Seth gave Mommy a toothy grin as he held onto the bars of his crib and bounced on his legs. "Ppppppbbbbbbbbtttttt" he babbled and blew a raspberry at Mommy.

Emily smiled. "Come on Seth you can say it. Say Mama." She whispered to him as she scooped him out of his crib and carried him down the stairs.

Seth blinked his big brown eyes at Mommy, shook his head, giggled, and then buried his face in Mommy's neck.

"How about Dada? Can you say Dada Seth?" Aaron asked as he stood leaning against the railing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them with a smile on his face watching Emily interacting with the birthday boy.

Seth lifted his head and squealed happily at hearing Daddy's voice.

Emily turned her head and stuck her tongue out at her husband in response to the competition for what Seth would say first, Mama or Dada.

Aaron raised an eyebrow at Emily and then turned to look at Seth. "Happy birthday buddy. What do you say we go have some breakfast?" he said as he plucked his youngest son out of Emily's arms and then leaned in and whispered in his wife's ear. "You shouldn't stick your tongue out unless you're going to use it." He said in a serious tone of voice as he grinned against Emily's ear.

Emily laughed out loud in response and then turned her head and kissed her husband with a quick peck on the lips before he pulled away and he and Seth headed for the kitchen. She paused next to Avery who was playing on the living room floor. "Avery, come on sweetie, let's go have breakfast with the birthday boy."

Avery looked up at Mommy with a puzzled expression on her face.

Emily smiled. "Today is Seth's birthday. He's one. It's his special day. Daddy is making pancakes."

Avery perked up at the mention of pancakes. "'ancakes?"

Emily laughed as she bent down and scooped her baby girl up off the floor. "Yeah pancakes."

"Yay!" Avery cheered happily.

Emily smiled and kissed the top of Avery's head as she headed for the kitchen. Seeing Seth in his high chair, she leaned down to whisper in Avery's ear. Then she walked over and bent down so Avery could reach Seth.

"Happy birfay!" Avery told her little brother and then kissed him on the cheek.

Seth turned a toothy, drooly, one year old grin on Avery and screeched excitedly as his palms slapped against the tray of his high chair while he babbled. His eyes tracked Mommy and Avery as Mommy put Avery in her high chair next to his.

Emily walked over to Aaron who was at the stove mixing up the pancake batter and leaned her hip against the counter as she studiously watched her husband for a moment.

"What?" Aaron asked as he turned to look at Emily.

Emily smirked and tipped her head. "I'm just wondering if those are going to be any good, or if we should have asked Uncle Sean to come over for breakfast."

Aaron look gobsmacked as he stared at his wife, his chin dropping against his chest. "Tell me you didn't just…"

Emily laughed and stood up from the counter. She used her fingers to press her husband's chin back in place. Then she leaned in and swiftly kissed him. "You'll do fine, I'm sure. Although," she said as she turned to glance at the bowl that held the batter, "you might want to stir a bit more to get rid of the lumps." Then she laughed and danced away out of his arms as she grabbed a banana and sliced it up for Seth and Avery to eat while they waited for pancakes. They had a busy day ahead of them.

 

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And the weeks passed by…

 

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"Mommy?" Chloe asked as she curled up against Mommy's legs and watched her baby brother.

"Chloe?" JJ answered scooping up her daughter in her arms and cuddling the three year old close as she glanced over to check on Henry where he laid on the floor playing with his toys.

"Why Joshie's face all wet?" Chloe asked curiously.

JJ chuckled. "Because he's drooling."

"Why is he drooling?" Chloe asked, tipping her head to the side as she looked at her baby brother in his baby seat.

JJ laughed as she squeezed Chloe close. "Babies drool sweetie. Josh hasn't learned to swallow quite as well as you or Henry so it leaks out." She said as she reached forward and lifted Joshua's bib to wipe the drool from his chin.

Henry turned to look and noticed that both Chloe and Joshua were by Mommy so he stood up and hopped over to Mommy's other side to see what was going on.

"Hey little man." JJ said wrapping an arm around Henry and rubbing his back. "Are you having fun playing?"

"Uh huh" Henry nodded as he looked at his baby brother. Then he turned to look up at Mommy. "We go to da park?"

Chloe's eyes lit up and she twisted to look at Mommy. "Yeah! Pwease Mommy?"

JJ chuckled at their children's short term memory today. "Sorry guys, we can't go to the park today. It's raining," 'again' JJ thought, but didn't mention, "but Daddy will be home with some movies soon."

Spence had gone to pick up movies when it had become apparent that their young, active, and highly mobile progeny would be stuck inside for the day due to the weather for what was now several days in a row.

"But I wanna go outside." Chloe pouted, her face scrunching up as she crossed her arms in displeasure.

"Me too." Henry said as he rested his chin on Mommy's leg.

"I know guys. Daddy and I wanted to spend today outside too." JJ sympathized with her three year old and two year old. Joshua at just over two months old was completely content to be wherever Mommy and Daddy were.

"Hey guys, I'm home." Spence said as he entered the house and closed the door behind him. He paused to kick off his sandals and remove his soaking wet windbreaker.

"Hi Daddy" Chloe said as skipped over to see Daddy in the entry way.

"Hi princess" Spence said as he knelt down in front of Chloe and wrapped his arms around her to give her a hug.

"Daddy" Chloe squealed. "You wet… ucky" she said as her face scrunched up in distaste at Daddy's hair dripping on her.

Spence laughed. "Sorry princess. It's raining outside. But I brought back some movies to watch."

"Dada, Dada, Dada" Henry squealed excitedly as ran over to Daddy and Chloe.

"Hey short stuff." Spence said as he scooped up Henry.

"I no thort. You taww." Henry replied with a straight face.

JJ laughed as she came up behind Henry to say hello. "Hi baby." JJ grinned and leaned into kiss Spence as raindrops ran down his face. "Guys why don't we go in the living room and pick which movie to watch and then Daddy can go dry off and come and join us."

"That sounds like a plan to me. What do you guys think?" Spence asked as he looked back and forth between Henry and Chloe.

Henry and Chloe's heads bobbed up and down in agreement.

"Okay little man," JJ said reaching out for Henry, "let's go see what movies Daddy picked out."

"Otay" Henry replied, willingly going to Mommy.

"Here princess, can you carry the movies for Mommy?" Spence asked as he pulled the movies out of the wet bag they were in.

"Yep" Chloe said taking the movies and then trotting behind Mommy and Henry into the living room.

When Spence came down the stairs a few minutes later, pillows and blankets were on the floor so that they could all cuddle up together and watch a movie. "So what movie did you guys pick?"

"Dis one!" Chloe said holding out the movie case she and Henry had picked to Daddy.

"Good choice." Spence said thoughtfully as he settled onto the floor with his family and JJ hit play.

After much shuffling around and discussion between Henry and Chloe about who got to sit between Mommy and Daddy, Spence had come up with a solution that worked for everyone. He was sitting leaning back against the couch. JJ sat in-between his legs and leaning back against his chest while she held a sleeping Joshua. Chloe and Henry sat on either side of them; curled up into Mommy and Daddy's sides as they all watched the movie.

A loud BOOM filled the air and the living lit up as lightning crackled in the air. Chloe and Henry both jumped and started cry at being scared by the thunder and lightning.

"Shh…" JJ whispered in a soft soothing voice. "It's just the storm. It's okay."

Spence pulled Chloe and Henry a little closer to him and held them close. "Mommy's right. It's just the storm. Do you want to go look out the window and see it?"

Chloe and Henry sniffled and nodded against Daddy's side.

"Okay," JJ said scooting forward and then walking on her knees over to where Joshua's baby seat sat. She placed him in his seat and then bent down and held out her hands to Chloe.

Chloe lifted her arms to Mommy to be picked up. Then she cuddled against Mommy once she was settled on Mommy's hip.

Spence rose to his knees, picked up Henry and stood up with Henry in his arms. Then they walked over to the deck doors and watched as the rain splashed down and lightning lit up the sky.

Another BOOM sounded around them, causing Chloe and Henry to jump again.

"Shh…" JJ murmured softly as she rocked Chloe side to side. "It's okay. See the storm is outside. We're safe and dry inside."

"Henry, big guy, what's so scary about the storm?" Spence asked.

"It woud Dada." Henry whimpered as he buried his face in Daddy's chest.

Spence nodded his head and leaned down to kiss Henry on the top of his head and then glanced at JJ. They walked back over to the couch and sat down next to each other with Chloe and Henry in their laps. "You know Mommy's right. The storm is outside and we're safe and dry inside."

"Should we watch more of the movie?" JJ asked as she brushed Chloe's hair back from her forehead.

Chloe shook her head no and snuggled into Mommy as she yawned.

"Are you tired sweetie?" JJ asked.

Chloe nodded.

"How about we go put on some nice warm jammies and read a bed time story?" Spence asked as he looked from Chloe's tired little face down to Henry who nodded his head sleepily.

JJ and Spence stood up together and headed for the stairs. JJ paused for just a moment to make sure that Joshua was sleeping peacefully in his baby seat and then she followed Spence upstairs to get their oldest two put to bed.

A few short minutes later JJ and Spence walked down the stairs together hand in hand. Bedtime stories hadn't been needed as Chloe and Henry had fallen asleep in the middle of changing into their jammies.

"I'm going to go put Josh to bed. I'll be back down in a few minutes." JJ said as she let go of Spence's hand at the bottom of the stairs and bent to pick Joshua up out of his baby seat, where he was still sound asleep.

Spence nodded. "Okay." Then he leaned down and kissed Joshua on the head. "Good night buddy. Sleep tight." He lifted his head and kissed his wife softly on the lips. "See you in a few minutes."

JJ smiled at Spence and then headed up the stairs with their youngest baby in her arms.

Spence glanced about the living room and set about cleaning up the pillows and blankets from them watching movies. Once everything was stored away again and the TV and DVD player were turned off, he turned on the light in the back yard. He leaned against the wall as he watched the rain continue to pour down on their deck and back yard. Puddles formed in yard and on the deck. He smiled as he remembered when he and JJ had been dating and gotten caught in the rain at the park. He smiled and shook his head at the memory… then he paused in thought.

He turned and headed to the laundry room and found a couple of large fluffy towels. Then he came back to the living room and sat the towels on the couch while he waited for JJ to come back down from putting Josh down for the night.

"Baby, what are the towels for?" JJ asked a few minutes later as she came down the last few stairs and then crossed the living room to where Spence sat on the couch.

"I was remembering the time we got caught in the rain at the park when we were dating… I thought maybe you'd like to go outside and play in the rain on the deck." Spence said as he looked up at his wife.

JJ grabbed Spence's hand and smiled. "That sounds like fun." She took his hand and led him towards the deck door, pausing to stop at the stereo and turn on her iPod just loud enough that they would be able to hear it on the deck.

Then they slipped hand in hand through their deck door and danced and played together in the rain.

 

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And the weeks passed by…

 

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"I think somebody is enjoying playing in the mud." Elle laughed as she looked at Billy as he crawled through a dirt pile while she stood watering the freshly planted garden.

Will laughed. "He's just bein' a boy cher. Boys get dirty." He said as he glanced up at Elle and grinned. He looked back just in time to see that Billy's tiny hands had managed to find and pluck a worm out of the dirt pile he was currently sitting in. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Billy. You don' wan' worms bebe." He said as he managed to pluck the worm from Billy finger at just the last possible moment before it like everything else these days ended up in his mouth. Then he scooped Billy up.

Elle laughed. "You boys look like you could use a bath. You're covered in mud." she said as she turned the hose on them.

"Cher" Will gasped as he attempted to hold onto a giggling, squirming, muddy and now soaking wet Billy. "Oh that is it. Get your Momma Billy." He said as he headed towards his wife.

Elle laughed as Will wrestled the hose from her hand and tossed it to the side.

Then he pulled his wife into a tight, wet, muddy hug with their son and pressed kisses to her face and neck. "I'd say now Momma needs a bath too. Right Billy?"

Billy just giggled at the antics of his parents.

 

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Derek could hear Penelope whispering something to Jake and Jake giggling in response as he walked back in the house from loading up the car to go to the Reids' for the annual Memorial Day cookout.

"Baby girl what are you and my main man up to?" Derek asked as he rounded the corner into the living room.

"Jake go show Daddy your new t-shirt." Penelope said with a grin where she sat kneeling in front of Jake.

"Dada tee?" Jake said patting his t-shirt as he turned and ran at his Daddy.

"Momma got you a new shirt huh Jake?" Derek asked as he tried to get a good look at Jake's shirt, but he couldn't with Jake's tiny hands in the way.

He caught Jake as he ran towards him and then lifted him up so he could make out what the shirt said. His eyes got big and he carefully settled Jake on his hip. He looked at Penelope. He looked at Jake's shirt. He looked at Penelope. "Really baby girl?" he asked.

"Or boy" Penelope answered coyly as she stepped up to her two favorite men and smoothed down Jake's t-shirt that read 'I'm the big brother.'

"Baby girl this is… I'm so… you…I…we…" Derek fumbled for words that could express just how happy this news made him.

Penelope smiled as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Derek and Jake. "Happy? Ecstatic? Surprised?"

"Baby girl…" Derek murmured in awe as he leaned down to kiss his wife.

Penelope smiled against his lips. "I'd love it if it was a baby girl… but I don't think you get to choose my chocolate God." She teased.

Derek shook his head and kissed her again. Then he pulled away and looked at Jake. "What do you think my main man? Are you excited about being a big brother and having a baby brother or sister?"

"Baby?" Jake asked as he leaned against Daddy's shoulder.

Derek smiled and wrapped his free arm around Penelope's shoulder's and the small but soon to be larger family headed out to get in the car.

 

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"So how's it feel to be back?" Emily asked as she and JJ walked to the break room.

"Good, really good, but at the same time a little bit strange." JJ replied.

"I bet. A year away is still a year away. Plus it's still a new job for you even if it is your old team." Emily replied with a smile as they reached the break room and pulled down coffee cups.

JJ grabbed a tea bag while Emily filled her cup to the brim with mystery sludge posing as coffee. She watched as Emily dumped teaspoon after teaspoon full of Splenda into the wicked brew and the winced at the first sip. "Still just as bad as I remember?"

Emily raised an eyebrow. "They have better coffee at the Pentagon?"

JJ shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I was pregnant the entire time I was there." She said over her shoulder as she filled her cup with hot water.

"Mm" Emily murmured as she looked at JJ over the rim of her coffee cup. "Good point."

"Hello my little chickadees." Penelope said as she entered the break room and added hot water to her cup of tea. Then she turned and glanced around to face JJ and Emily. "We're a musketeer short. Where's Elle?"

"She's finishing up a consult over the phone." Emily replied.

"What about our fresh faced Academy graduated dynamic duo?" Penelope asked as she leaned back against the counter.

"They're finding out what their first assignments are going to be." Emily replied.

Elle stood up after wrapping up her phone call with a LEO and headed for the break room for coffee and gossip, leaving Morgan and Reid alone in the bullpen.

Morgan closed the file he'd spent the last couple of hours working on and leaned back in his chair to stretch. Then feeling the need for a break, he stood up and walked over to sit on the edge of Reid's desk. "So pretty boy, what's new?"

Reid looked up at Morgan with a puzzled expression on his face. "Morgan I see you every day. What could possibly be new since yesterday?"

Morgan smirked; glad that some things truly never changed. "Kid, it's an ice breaker… a conversation starter."

"Oh… yeah… I knew that." Reid replied as he laid down his pen and sat back in his chair.

"Sure you did." Morgan teased. "Actually, not that we didn't have a good time at the cookout this weekend, but why didn't you and your boys pull out the instruments and play a set or two."

Reid sighed deeply and raised his hand. Using his pointer and index finger he tapped lightly at his temple. "I did want to chance bringing on a headache."

"You're still getting headaches? Man, it's been six months since they started. I thought you said they figured out what the cause was?" Morgan asked in a concerned tone of voice.

"Just because they know what's causing them doesn't mean their fixed. The drugs haven't been working as well as they hoped. We're still in a wait and see pattern." Reid explained as he stretched his legs in front of him and crossed his legs.

"You'll let me know if there's anything you need right?" Morgan asked quietly as he noticed the girls on the way back from the break room and Ashley and Zoe coming in the double glass doors of the BAU.

Reid nodded. "Everything is under control, but yes I'll let you know."

"What are you two talking about?" Emily asked as she sat back down at her desk and turned in her chair to look at Reid and Morgan.

Reid panicked slightly, not wanting to discuss his headaches with group at large since it was only JJ, Emily, and Morgan that knew about them.

Morgan noticed Reid's panicked expression out of the corner of his eye and quickly covered. "You know, guy stuff." He said with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

JJ glanced at Spence and noticed the expression on his face and she knew they'd been discussing his headaches. She knew he didn't want to deal with telling the whole team unless he had to, so she quickly changed the subject as she sat down in the chair at the long table behind Spence that she was using as a desk until Ashley and Zoe left for their assignments. "So can you guys explain something to me?" JJ asked as she randomly flipped a case file open in front of her.

Reid smiled as his wife changing the subject. They'd discussed the case file she'd just opened in detail. She knew and understood that material backwards and forwards.

 

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"How did the budget meeting go last night?" Hotch asked as he sat down in Gideon's office.

Gideon sat up in his chair from where he'd been leaning back with his hands resting on top of his head. "The Bureau is potentially facing a lot of changes. There's some belt tightening and restructuring going on. We'll need to let the team know to expect to be contacted by other divisions"

Hotch sighed deeply, his chin dropping to rest on his chest, his elbows resting on his knees and he pressed his hands together.

"New York is expressing interest in Morgan again. As usual everybody wants their own Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. Penelope's talents are desired by every agency and team we come in contact with, and of course we've already seen how badly other departments would like to have JJ. Elle and Emily aren't safe from another team or agency attempting to poach them either."

Hotch looked up at Gideon. "So we just get the team pulled back together and they're ready to dismantle it?"

Gideon shook his head. "That's not what I said at all… of course other divisions are going to be interested in recruiting from the BAU. If you had to do more with less, wouldn't you want the very best agents reporting to you?" he asked with a shake of his head. "Just because they get asked doesn't mean they will accept. In fact I'm almost willing to guarantee that they won't. What this team has built here is something special. As much as others might try and emulate it or duplicate it, it can't be done. It's special. It's a family."

Hotch nodded. It didn't put his mind at ease to have to have that discussion with the team, but it would need to be done and the sooner the better. Once everyone was in for the day, he'd get the team together and then he could make them aware.

"Do you… excuse me." Hotch said and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Hotchner." He said holding the phone to his ear. "Yes… right. I'll get my team called in and send someone out there as soon as possible."

"Case?" Gideon asked as he looked across his desk at Hotch.

"Virginia State Police believe they've uncovered a serial killer." Hotch said as he dialed Dave's number and lifted the phone to his ear and waited for Dave to answer. "They need us at Zacker Road and Route Seven as soon as possible."

Gideon nodded. "We can finish talking about this later. Let me know if you need anything for the case."

Hotch nodded, his phone pressed to his ear as he stood and headed back to his office to call the team in earlier than normal.

 

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JJ moaned as she woke from sleep at the feel Spence's naked form pressed against her back as he snuggled closer to her in the pre-dawn twilight of their bedroom.

Spence breathed in deeply, his face buried in his wife's hair as he stretched his legs and then re-entwined them with JJ's. He tightened his arm around her waist as he scooted even closer than he already was spooned against his wife's back.

She reveled in the feel of his skin sliding and pressing against hers as she glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. 6:30 am. She laid her head back down on the pillow and settled back into Spence's arm enjoying the closeness and she tangled her fingers with his where they rested low on her belly.

"Good morning" Spence murmured against her shoulder, now that he knew she was awake, as he pressed a row of kisses across her shoulder.

JJ smiled and twisted in his arms to face her husband. "Morning baby" she replied as Spence raised his head from her shoulder to kiss her good morning.

"Mmm" JJ moaned into the kiss. The moan swiftly turned into a groan when both of their cell phones chirped, indicating they had a message.

Spence stretched across JJ's body and grabbed his wife's cell phone for her and then rolled to the other side of the bed and grabbed his own cell phone off of his nightstand.

They turned and looked at each other as they listened to their voicemail messages from Hotch asking them to come in as soon as they could.

Spence leaned down from where he sat leaning against the headboard of their bed and kissed her quickly. "I guess that was our wakeup call. I'll call Rebecca and let her know we need to go."

JJ nodded as she sat up. "I'll feed Joshua and change him while you take a shower."

Spence nodded and watched as JJ slipped from bed and pulled on her robe as she opened the door to their bedroom and went across the hall to check on Joshua. Then he dialed Rebecca's number on his cell phone.

 

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"How bad is it?" Ashley asked as she and Zoe entered the round table room where JJ, Reid, Emily, and Penelope sat around the table.

"Judging by the fact that it's just barely seven am, I'd say pretty bad." JJ replied, remembering the several times over her years as the team's media liaison that she'd needed to call the team in early for a case.

Penelope nodded as she took a sip of her tea. "Derek, Rossi, and Elle are headed out to the scene at Zacker Road and Route Seven."

Zoe nodded as she followed Ashley to take a seat at the table just as Hotch entered the room.

"Sorry to have to call you all in early this morning." Hotch apologized as he took his seat at the table. "Virginia State Police believe they've uncovered a serial killer. There was a one vehicle accident. The driver died at the scene, but the bodies of an unknown male and female were discovered in the trunk. Dave, Morgan, and Elle are meeting each other out at the scene. They'll call us to let us know what they find and we'll go from there. I want us ready to hit the ground running as soon as we have something."

Everyone seated at the table nodded and then rose to begin getting ready for what was sure to be a long and busy day.

Penelope headed back to her lair, sure that Derek, Rossi, and Elle would be calling her to see what she could pull-up once they were on the scene.

"I have some things to square away in my office. Let me know if you find anything." Hotch said as he watched Reid and JJ roll the case board out so it could be easily accessed and seen by them all at once.

All five agents nodded in acknowledgement as they worked to begin putting the case board together so that it would be ready for their first details and evidence.

 

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"Okay my lovelies we have IDs on our victims. Jake Wattay, a junior at Arizona State and Paige Hawley, hailing from the Buckeye state." Penelope said as she breezed into the round table room and handed the photos of their victims to Emily.

"Is this the same Jake Wattay that…" Emily started to ask as she looked at the photo in her hands.

"Who's disappearance we consulted on over Christmas?" Penelope said finishing Emily's question. "It is. I sent their missing persons files to your tablets."

Emily closed her eyes for a moment, upset that they hadn't been able to save this young man from the fate his abductor had planned for him. Then she opened her eyes and put Jake and Paige's photos on the case board. "Thanks PG" Emily said turning to look at Penelope.

Penelope nodded and reached out, rubbing Emily's shoulder. "I wish…"

"Trust me PG, we all do." Emily said as she glanced around at Reid, JJ, Ashley, and Zoe. "but the best we can do now is figure this out."

Penelope nodded. "I'm going to go give this information to boss man. You guys let me know if you need to put my babies to work."

"Thanks Pen" JJ said smiling at Pen and then turning back to study the case board with everybody else.

Penelope nodded and then turned and headed out of the round table room for Hotch's office.

 

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"The only reason we have this case is because of an accident." Ashley said as she stood looking at the board where Reid was placing a pin in the board for the accident site.

"Do you know the odds of that?" Reid asked as he glanced over his shoulder at everybody.

"Is that rhetorical?" Ashley asked.

"Combined with chance that this is his first time dumping bodies?" Reid said as he turned from the board to face them.

"You think he's working alone?" Ashley asked.

Reid shook his head. "What do you think?" he asked reflecting the question back at Ashley.

Ashley shook her head. "Unlikely. Its high risk to move one body out of state; but two?"

"Or more" Zoe added.

"You think there are more victims?" Ashley asked as she turned to look at Zoe.

"I think it's highly improbable that someone who's done what this person did to Jake and Paige would have only had two victims in all the months that he's had them both and with all the distance he's travelled with them." Zoe replied as she looked down at the missing persons files and then up at case board.

Reid nodded his head, "You know Paige was abducted months after having Jake in captivity and Zoe's right he travelled with both, which means he's criminally sophisticated." He said tipping his head to the side in thought. "It seems more like an organized operation as opposed to an individual offender."

"Then he's probably done this before." Ashley replied.

"Oh shit" Emily said as the pieces started to fall into place in her head. "You don't think it could be human trafficking do you?" she turned to look at JJ and then at Reid.

JJ bit her lip as she thought over everything they knew so far. "It's a good possibility. What do you think Spence?"

"It's impossible to say until we know how those two were targeted." He replied as he pointed at Jake and Paige's photos.

 

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Penelope knocked on boss man's door with a copy of Jake and Paige's file for him as well as an update on everything they'd found so far. She turned the knob and pushed the door open at the sound of Hotch's 'Come in.'

"Hello," Penelope said as she stepped in and closed the door behind her. "Oh, I'm sorry sirs," She said as she noticed Gideon leaning against a low bookshelf, his arms and legs crossed. "I didn't mean to interrupt. I can…"

"Penelope," Hotch said interrupting the technical analyst. "It's fine. You have something?"

"Oh... right. Here's the information I have on the casualties from today. I'm running open cases from last year now. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" Penelope replied, handing Hotch the files and then watching as he perused the information.

"No, that's all. Thank you." Hotch said as he continued to look at the files.

"Okay, I'll just be…" Penelope pointed over her shoulder with her thumb and then turned on her heels and headed for the door.

"Penelope, wait. You need to widen this search. Go back two years." Hotch replied as he picked up his pen and began making notes.

"Really?" Penelope asked. "That's a lot of people. Is there any parameters to narrow that down?" she asked as she gestured with her hands.

"No not yet. Unfortunately transporting victims across state lines is not an issue for this group." Hotch replied as he glanced up at Penelope.

"Group?" Penelope asked in disbelief. "How do you know it's a group?"

"We've got different genders from different parts of the country. This is not a traditional unsub." Hotch replied, looking up at Penelope again.

Penelope noticed Gideon nodding out of the corner of her eye and before she could reply, a knock came at Hotch's office door, causing her to turn around.

"Come in" Hotch called out.

"Hey Andi" Hotch said as Andi Swann entered his office. "Um, Penelope," Hotch said as he stood up from behind his desk, "this is SSA Andi Swann; she's the head of the Domestic Trafficking Task Force. Andi this is…"

"Penelope Garcia" she said giving her professional name as she held out her hand. "I… I… I went to your online trafficking seminar last fall. You terrify me."

"Sorry. I do remember you." Andi replied with a smile and a nod at Penelope.

"Uh uh, really?" Penelope asked.

"You asked great questions." Andi replied. "I thought you nicked my PowerPoint."

Penelope enthusiastically shook her head no. "I didn't, but I could."

Andi smiled. "So I've heard." She replied as she glanced at Hotch.

"I will get you that list." Penelope said to Hotch. "Let me know if you need anything else. Very nice to see you again." She said to Andi and then turned to head out of Hotch's office and back to her lair.

"You too." Andi replied as she watched Penelope leave the office.

"She's not easy to forget," Andi said as she turned look back at Hotch.

Gideon smiled as he watched the team's very own Pollyanna walk out the door. Then he stood up and held his hand out. "No she is not. Good to see you again Andi."

"Gideon, good to see you too." Andi said as they shook hands. "I just wish it was under better circumstances."

Hotch tipped his head as he studied his fellow Unit Chief and friend. "How are you?"

"Tired. Human trafficking is a growth industry and I've got half the agents I had last year." Andi replied as she looked at Hotch.

"How can we help?" Hotch asked.

"I get notifications on body discoveries of 18 to 24 year olds."

Hotch looked down at his desk at the files that Penelope had brought him. "Paige Hawley and Jake Wattay." He said as he looked back up.

"I've got a theory on what happened. Can I fill you in?" Andi asked.

"Sure, we've got a case board set up in the conference room." Hotch replied and stepped around his desk to lead the way, pausing to glance at Gideon. "Joining us?"

"Right behind you." Gideon said with a nod.

"Any chance we'll be passing the coffee pot?" Andi asked as they reached the door of Hotch's office.

"Yeah" Hotch said as he opened the door for her and then followed her out with Gideon right behind him.

 

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"We've also recently established an undercover unit." Andi explained as she filled them in on the human trafficking organization she and her team had been tracking for three years.

"Wait, how can you infiltrate them? Wouldn't your agents have to commit a crime in order to be accepted as a customer?" Reid asked.

"Exactly, that's why we can't pose as buyers." Andi said as she crossed her arms. "The entire system is set up to protect the customers. There's no way we can trace them from that end."

"What if you could?" Emily asked.

Everyone on the team turned to look at Emily trying to figure out what she was suggesting.

"We can't. It's just as Agent Reid suggested. The agents would have to commit a crime in order to be accepted." Andi replied in confusion.

"Not if you had an agent with a cover as a career criminal already created." Emily replied.

You could hear a pin drop in the round table room as Hotch glared at Emily. Emily looked unflinchingly back at Hotch, not backing down.

Hotch's hands clenched into fists at his sides as he attempted to maintain a calm, collected presence. "Agent Prentiss, a word please. In my office. Now." Hotch said calmly and tersely, the authority of his position laced in his voice.

Every member of the BAU winced, knowing exactly what that tone foretold, all of them having heard it at various points over the course of their careers with the BAU. Woe betide to anyone it was directed at.

Emily sat in shock for a moment that she hadn't been allowed to finish her idea; then, angrily got to her feet to follow Hotch to his office.

As Emily followed Hotch out of the round table room, the team all exhaled a breath they hadn't realized they were holding at the thought of Emily resuming the role of Lauren Reynolds, even if it was only for one case.

Gideon cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. You were saying Andi?" he said, attempting to move past the scene they'd all just witnessed.

"I…" Andi attempted to pick up her train of thought, thrown at what she'd just witnessed.

Ashley jumped in. "Since you can't go undercover as customers your agent go in as targets, don't they?"

"Do you have anybody under now?" Gideon asked.

"Locally a few." Andi replied. "They're still establishing their backstories."

"They might be able to help." Gideon said.

"I'll call." Andi said as she picked her cell phone up and stepped away to call the agent in charge of her undercover unit.

 

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"What the hell was that?" Emily asked heatedly as she spun to face Aaron once they were behind the closed doors of his office.

"I could ask you the same thing." Aaron replied, an angry scowl on his face at the thought of Emily ever having to play the role of Lauren Reynolds again. "Clearly you haven't thought this through."

"And how would you know since you didn't give me an opportunity to explain what I was thinking?" Emily asked angrily crossing her arms. "Since when do you not trust my judgment?"

"It's not about not trusting your judgment Emily." Aaron said his voice rising.

"So then why exactly would you undermine me in front of the whole team and Agent Swann?" Emily asked.

 

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"The victims are assets. Why would the unsubs kill their profit?" Reid asked as the team and Gideon discussed the case further with Andi Swann.

Gideon took a deep breath. "Either the victims are escaping or the clients are adapting." He said as he stared at the case board.

"Adapting?" Ashley asked.

"These clients are extremely depraved." Gideon explained as he continued to stare at the case board. "The worst of worst hiding behind veneers of normality, when the sex act stops being enough for them, they'd ask the unsubs to go farther, to push the limits, for more extreme forms of release."

JJ shuddered next to Spence at the thought of the sickness and depravity required for what Gideon was describing.

"Which was my fear," Andi said as she glanced at the happy photos of Jake Wattay and Paige Hawley, "and these two just proved it." Andi looked down as her cell phone began to ring. "Swann" she answered as she stepped away from the group.

 

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Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose as his argument with Emily continued on. "It's not happening Emily. No way in hell am I letting you go undercover in a case we've been working on for less than a day. We don't know enough about the unsubs or the operation in order to be able to ensure your safety. It's too big a risk."

"Aaron, what if it was Avery… or Jack, or Seth? Could you rest if it was Chloe, Henry or Jake or Chloe? Could we live with it if it was Billy or Joshua? Why should we use a cover that's already set up and reliable if it helps save one victim then won't it have been worth it?" Emily said.

Aaron took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "First of all has it occurred to you that Lauren Reynolds is dead and that some lead time would be required to bring her back from the dead in a believable manner? Also all the kids you listed off? They all need you alive. This isn't three years ago or seven years ago… you can't just volunteer yourself to be the risk taker anymore… it isn't just about you anymore. It stopped being just about you a long time ago." Aaron replied the anger dissipating from his voice.

Emily's shoulders sagged as the fight left her. "How did I miss the problem that Lauren being dead could have caused?" she asked half out loud and half to herself. Then she looked at Aaron. "Sorry, I just… this year and reliving everything with Doyle has been rough…"

"Emily, I know it has, but you don't need to prove anything to anybody. We'll solve this case the way we always have, by building a solid profile and using our reasoning skills to find the unsub." Hotch said as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close. "I know you want to find these unsubs as quickly as possible, but setting up an undercover op on short notice with little planning isn't the way to do it. Justice at any cost isn't Justice Emily."

"I hate you sometimes." Emily said as she looked up and mock glared at Aaron.

A smirk crossed Hotch's lips in understanding that their fight was over. "I know, I hate me too sometimes."

Emily swatted his shoulder. "I love you, but when we get home, we are going to have a discussion about appropriate ways for you to flex your authority as the Unit Chief over your wife."

Hotch winced. "I did handle that rather badly didn't I?"

Emily nodded.

"Alright, we'll discuss it when we get home; but for now, we need to get back and help figure out how to best crack this case… and I love you too." Hotch replied leaning down to kiss her quickly before they left his office.

Hotch and Emily stepped out of his office only to run into Gideon headed directly towards them.

"Did you two kiss and make-up?" Gideon asked.

Hotch and Emily nodded.

"Good, because the situation just got more dire. One of Andi's undercover agents missed her last two check-ins." Gideon explained as he turned and headed back to the conference room. "I think the two of you should go with Andi to check out the agents apartment. Emily has a unique insight into what might have been going through this agents head."

 

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"Here are the missing co-eds since 2009" Penelope said as she sat a large stack of files on the table in front of JJ, Ashley and Zoe.

"Wow" Ashley replied as she looked at the stack of files. "Okay, uh… we still need to narrow this down. Let's look at last known locations… maybe there's an overlap?"

Penelope shook her head. "They're from all over the place."

"These guys hunt in target rich environments." Ashley said thinking out loud.

"Right… clubs, malls, that kind of thing…" Penelope replied.

"What did Morgan, Elle, and Rossi find?" Reid asked as he walked into the room.

"A lot of mud on the car and the victims." Penelope replied.

"Mud, did it rain here?" Reid asked.

"No, not here. South. Roanoke. Derek had a theory that based on the gas mileage they must have filled up within 70 miles of the accident." Penelope replied.

"How many gas stations did you find?" Reid asked.

"42" Penelope replied, "but I was able to narrow that down to seven that were in the area where it rained. Then I was able to isolate the gas station where the unsub stopped based on the egg and cheese sandwich wrapper and the cup of coffee that was in his car."

"That's brilliant Pen" JJ said.

"Why thank you." Pen replied. "I suppose that you are used to recognizing genius when you see it since you're married to our good Doctor here."

"A genius break-through in how to narrow down these files would be terrific." Ashley said as she looked at the large stack of files sitting next to her.

At that moment Elle entered the room. "Sometimes you just have to read the files… granted our resident boy wonder can read them all several times faster… but sometimes the fastest way to find the needle in the haystack is to just jump into the haystack instead of trying to throw the hay out of the stack." She said as she sat down at the table and grabbed a few files. "Morgan and Rossi are headed out to the gas station that Pen found as being the one where the unsub stopped. I thought I might be more help back here."

JJ grinned at how good it felt to be back with the team as she grabbed a few files for herself and a whole handful for Spence and sat them down on the table next to her.

 

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The afternoon wore on as the team continued to turn up and pull new pieces of evidence together as they now worked against the clock to find Renee Maitlin who'd gone missing after a run with her training group.

Morgan and Rossi had checked out the gas station where the unsub had stopped that morning and discovered that the organization used the pay phones to contact each other, meaning they were in the local area and not just passing through.

Now the team was sitting together in the round table room with Andi trying to pull the pieces of what they knew together into a way to find Renee.

"Renee's done a lot of homework. These people have all been to clubs over the weekend and then vanished within three days including this morning's victims." Reid said.

"So why didn't she share her theory?" Ashley asked as she turned to look at Andi.

Andi leaned against the table. "She's a perfectionist. I'm sure she wanted to gather enough intel to prove it."

"Using the clubs as a template, there are potentially 63 others who were taken by the same offenders." Reid added.

"There's no way to know which ones are still alive." Andi said standing up and crossing her arms.

"What about Renee? Had she been to any clubs recently?" JJ asked as she leaned back and rested elbow on the back rest of her chair, twisting to stretch her back in an attempt to release some of the tension resulting from their progressively growing longer day.

"She went to the local clubs. She'd report back if anyone suspicious approached her." Andi said with a nod. "We followed the leads; nothing panned out."

"What was the last club? Maybe whatever happened there is what triggered everything." Elle asked as leaned forward in her seat and rested her arms on the table.

"Scotties in Georgetown." Andi replied.

JJ nodded, having gone to Georgetown, she was familiar with the club. "Target rich environment filled with exactly the types they would have been looking for." She said with a nod.

"If they find out she's an agent, she's dead." Andi added solemnly.

JJ nodded in understanding. "What do we know about the clubs? Why is it always a club? They could scope out malls, gyms, college campuses. There are several other ways to select their victims, but it's always clubs. Why?"

"Penelope," Hotch asked "Do we know who owns the clubs where the victims went missing?"

"Bruce Harmon owns the club in Arizona."

"And in Ohio?" Hotch asked.

"Bob Moore."

"And Scotties in Georgetown?" Andi asked.

"Bob Moore is a partner in that."

"Do either of them own property in Virginia?" Hotch asked as the rest of the team waited on the edge of their seats.

"Moore also is a partner in the development of a private facility" Penelope said as she squinted at the screen.

"What happened to it?" Hotch asked.

"Looks like bad guys go through hardship too." Penelope replied as she studied the information on the screen. "Financers pulled all of the money out in 2009, so it's not anything."

"What was it?" Andi asked.

"It was supposed to be a tough love rehab center." Penelope replied as she read from the screen. "but now, now it's just an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere."

"With a lot of acreage and mud." Rossi said as he glanced over at Morgan.

"It's the money trail." Emily said. "The club owners are silent partners and provide a discreet location for the events. It's their contribution that allows them into the club."

"Fine upstanding business owners by day, deviants by night." Elle added.

"With that level of wealth they could pay the group to see whatever they wanted…" Rossi said as he looked around the table at the team.

"Mutually assured destruction." Emily added. "It's what keeps the network in place."

"Mutually assured destruction?" Zoe asked.

"Everyone in the network has dirt on everybody else. If anyone develops a conscience and thinks about turning the others in, they don't get away clean. They're destroyed in the process as well." Reid explained.

Zoe nodded in understanding.

"How far from the gas station is it?" Morgan asked.

"Eight miles west." Penelope replied as she looked at the maps on her screen.

"Let's go." Hotch said as he headed for the door followed by the rest of the team.

 

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The caravan of black FBI issued SUVs stopped for nothing as they proceeded at full speed towards the compound. Andi, the team, and SWAT had geared up before they left Quantico. They blasted full speed through the gate just as it was being closed behind a car that had just entered.

A pair of SWAT agents hopped out of the last vehicle and secured the man operating the gate. A pair of SWAT agents approached the vehicle that had entered the gates just before them and apprehended the well-dressed driver.

The team, Andi Swann, and the rest of the SWAT team swarmed the building in front of them, moving as a solid force through the doorway and quickly fanning out.

Andi Swann and Hotch led several agents towards the sound of yelling and rattling chain link fencing coming from down one of the hallways.

As Hotch followed Andi down the dark hallway lined with chain link fence cages, it gutted him to see the faces staring back at him as they were wondering if he too was here to hurt them. Some clasped the links of the fencing, struggling to stand up; some lay lethargically on the ground incoherent due to being drugged; some curled up in a ball protecting themselves in the shadows; but one, one stood rattling the fence that made up her cage and screaming for them to bring back Lucy.

"Renee? Renee, it's Andi."

Renee nearly broke down in tears at the sight of her Unit Chief standing on the other side of the fence from her. "Oh thank god." She sobbed. "You have to find Lucy. They took Lucy."

"How long ago?" Hotch asked as he looked around the hallway, his back to Andi's as he covered her.

"M…may… maybe a half an hour ago." Renee said as she clung to the fence in relief.

"We'll find her." Hotch said with a nod. "Andi," He said with a glance over his shoulder. "We've got incoming."

Andi turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with Hotch as she pulled her weapon, aiming at the two men at the end of the hall from where they stood in the shadows.

"She's quieted down, is maybe no longer problem." One man said to the other as they paused just beyond the corner, unable to see the agents.

The other man shook his head. "Something isn't right. As loud and as much of a pain in the ass as she's been the whole time and now she decides to be quiet? We better go check it out just to be sure or the boss will not be happy."

The first man sighed as they stood silhouetted in the doorway. "Damn it you are right. But after, I win back my money from you in our next hand."

"FBI FREEZE AND GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" Hotch yelled once the two men were able to see them.

The first man pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants, but before he could raise his gun, a shot rang out from down the hall, hitting him square in the chest; he sank to his knees and then slumped to the side as he bled.

The second man lifted his hands in surrender as he dropped to his knees.

"Face down on the ground and hands on the back of your head." Hotch instructed as he moved towards him.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JJ winced at the sound of the beating taking place as they moved down the hall. At the sound of someone being beaten to what sounded very much to be death, she, Morgan, Rossi, and Emily picked up their pace as they and the SWAT team with them.

"Pretty impressive. He's still standing." The female the front of the room dressed like one of the victims said as her large partner in crime continued to give the first of their client's entertainment for the night a bare knuckle beating.

"FBI. EVERYBODY DOWN ON THE FLOOR NOW!" Morgan yelled just as the large unsub wrapped his hands around the victim's throat. "Let him go or I will shoot you."

The large man took his hands off of the neck of the man he'd been beating, letting him drop to the ground and turned to face the agents. He stretched his neck, creating a loud cracking sound as it popped. He reached for the gun beside him on table filled with various instruments of torture.

He was dead before his hand fully closed around the gun.

"Oh thank god… I thought I was going to be next." The woman at the front of the room said, attempting to mask who exactly she was in the situation.

"Not buying it sister." Emily said as she moved to grab her. "We heard you talking about how impressively he was taking a beating." She said with a nod of her head to the victim lying on the floor, gasping for breath as JJ knelt over him calling for a medic and checking his vitals.

"Well it was worth a shot, wasn't it?" the female unsub replied snarkily as she moved to reach behind her.

Emily's boot connected to her ribcage before she could pull whatever weapon it was she had behind her back out. She'd have preferred to shoot her, but considering that by all appearances this appeared to be the leader she didn't want her getting off easy. They'd never get answers on all of the potential victims if everyone involved in the actual trafficking died. "Naughty girl." Emily said reaching down the female unsub's back and pulling the gun out of the waistband of her jean skirt as she hunched over clutching her abdomen.

 

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"This is the last of them." Ashley said, nodding behind her where JJ, Dave, Morgan, and Emily each escorted the last of the prisoners out of the building.

"How many arrests?" Hotch asked.

"20" Ashley replied and then moved forward, maintaining a firm grip on the suit clad business man who's head hung low in disgrace.

"And 8 victims rescued." Andi replied thoughtfully and then turned to Agent Renee Maitland who stood next to her in an oversized pair of BDU pants and FBI jacket that had been in the back of one of the SUVs. "Good work Agent."

Renee Maitland smiled at her superior tiredly. "Thank you. Did you find Lucy?"

"She's here somewhere and you can look for her once you get checked out yourself." Andi replied nodding to nearby row of ambulances and medics that were processing the victims.

Renee shook her head. "I promise I'll get checked out once we find Lucy. The last I saw her they were taking her… I need to know she's okay."

Andi sighed and then nodded. "Okay, let's go look for her." She replied, knowing just how determined her agent was especially with everything she'd been through.

Renee nodded and turned to follow Agent Swann, but stopped cold as an agent walked towards them with Lucy.

"Lucy!" Renee called out to get her friend's attention.

'Lucy' lifted her head to look up at Renee. As she did so, she jerked forward slightly.

Renee gasped as seeing Lucy's hands were restrained behind her. "What's going on you have Lucy…" Renee gasped as the pieces fell into place.

"You know her?" Emily asked as she kept a firm grip on the female unsub's arms.

Renee nodded. "This is…was my friend Lucy. We were abducted together… it was all a set up wasn't it?" Renee asked, getting in Lucy's face.

"Good guys aren't the only ones who go undercover." 'Lucy' sneered.

Renee's world reeled for a moment that someone she'd trusted as a friend had turned out to be anything but a friend. She turned her back on 'Lucy' and faced Andi. "I'm ready to get checked out now."

Andi sized up the woman that had been the leader. Then she looked at Renee. "Good choice." She said wrapping her arm around Renee's shoulder and leading her over to a waiting ambulance. "By the way, your Mom called." Andi said as she pulled Renee's cell phone out of her pocket. "You should call her back." She said with a smile as she handed the phone to Renee.

 

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"So how was your first raid as a profiler?" Spence asked JJ as elevator headed towards the sixth floor and the BAU.

JJ turned to look at Spence who stood next to her in the elevator full of profilers and agents. "Exhausting."

"Oh come on now JJ is that because of the being a profiler, the raid, or the fact that it's well after midnight." Morgan chimed in from his spot in front of the doors.

"D. All of the above." JJ answered causing a laugh to go through the cabin of the elevator.

The elevator opened on the sixth floor to a smiling technical analyst greeting party of one.

"Hello my doves." Penelope greeted chipperly. "Hello my chocolate God." She said as Derek stepped up in front of her.

"Hey baby girl." Derek greeted his wife.

Penelope smiled unable to resist a little teasing to lift her husband's spirits. "I keep telling you we don't get to choose." She said with a smile and a week.

Derek let out a hearty laugh and then leaned down to kiss his wife.

The rest of the team smiled as they moved past Pen and Derek in the elevator lobby and through the double glass doors into the bullpen.

"What is it kid?" Rossi asked as he watched the team taking about the case board and filing things away, noticing that Ashley was especially bothered by something.

"We only rescued 8 victims today." Ashley said as she looked sadly down at the stack of files in her hands. "What about the rest of these?"

"It never ends." Rossi replied.

"But today I think we did good." Morgan replied.

"Yeah we did." Rossi agreed.

"Yeah, if I weren't so exhausted, I would toast us." Penelope replied.

"Good work everybody." Hotch said as he joined the team in the conference room. "Let's all go home and get some rest. This can all wait until tomorrow. Nobody needs to come in until 10."

"I'm not going to argue with the man." Rossi said as he headed for the door of the round table room. "Have a good night everybody. I'll see you in the morning."

"I'm with Rossi. It's been a long ass day." Morgan said as he looked around at everybody.

"Hey is anybody hungry?" Spence asked as he slipped his messenger bag over his shoulder and wrapped an arm around JJ.

"I'm starving." JJ replied as she rubbed her hand up and down Spence's side where her arm was wrapped.

"Me too." Ashley replied.

"Me three." Emily added.

"Me four." Zoe said with a grin.

"I could definitely eat." Elle said with a tired nod of her head.

"There's this super good Indian restaurant. It's a little ways away, but its open 24 hours and they have amazing chicken tandoori."

JJ smiled as she listened to Spence start to tell the Ashley and Zoe about his favorite Indian restaurant, knowing that the rest of the team except for Zoe and Ashley had been there before, as they team started to move for the elevators.

"What do you think Mama? Does baby Morgan number two want Indian food?" Derek asked as he and Penelope followed everybody else to the elevators.

"Oh my God yes, baby boy that sounds amazing!" Penelope answered her eyes lighting up.

Derek chuckled. "Somebody keeps tellin' me that we don't get to choose if the baby is a boy or a girl." He teased as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Awwww" was chorused by all their female team members just as the elevator dinged.


	17. Chapter 17

JJ smiled as she watched Spence take a bite of chicken tandoori out of the corner of her eye as she turned to look at Ashley and Zoe. "So you guys never did tell us where you got assigned."

Zoe smiled. "Boston."

Hotch nodded. "Boston will be a good office for you to get started in. It's a large enough field office that you will be able to gain experience, but it's not so large that you'll get lost in the shuffle."

Ashley nodded absent mindedly as she played with her food.

"Ashley, what's wrong?" Emily asked the younger agent.

Ashley sighed and looked up. "All those missing college students… their families may never know what happened to them… I just wish I…"

Emily nodded in understanding. "It's never easy to know that we can't help everyone."

Ashley nodded and then turned to look at Hotch. "I know I've been assigned to a field office… but is there any chance of me being reassigned to Andi Swann's team?"

Zoe's eyes went wide as she turned to look at her friend and then looked at Hotch.

Hotch nodded in understanding. "I'll call Andi tomorrow, but I'm sure she'll be grateful to have you on her team. We'll also need to speak with the SAC in Boston."

 

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Zoe looked at Ashley as they stood in the bullpen, having just finished boxing up their desks. "Promise me that you'll be careful and that you'll stay in touch."

Ashley smiled at the best friend she'd ever had. "Of course… I won't be too far away. We can get together on weekends."

Zoe grinned. "That would be good. Last night Marc stole the phone from Nicholas and asked for your number."

Ashley blushed as she smiled. "I know. He called me."

Zoe laughed. "I guess I'll definitely see you a lot then."

"You ladies all packed up?" Rossi asked as he and the rest of the team gathered around them in the bullpen.

"Yeah… I think so." Ashley replied as she glanced about her desk. "I'm going to miss you guys." She said as the team gather round.

Zoe nodded in agreement. "Me too."

"No sadness. This is a no sadness zone." Penelope said with a smile, "You're not leaving the family; you're just moving on to new adventures. You both better stay in touch. I can find you. I have ways." Penelope said with a sniffle as she wiped a tear from her eye.

"I'd listen to her if I were you. Mama Bear is serious." Morgan added.

"You hush," Penelope said clearing her throat as she poked her husband in the belly, "or no cake for you." she said as she stepped out of the way revealing the fabulously decorated cake that sat on the desk behind her. "You know we couldn't let you leave without having a going away party."

 

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Emily grinned as she signed on the dotted on line on the last page of the mortgage paperwork and then passed it over to Aaron to sign. It had taken a few months, but she and Aaron had managed to find and now close on the house they'd fallen in love with.

The house was large with a well-manicured lawn. Bay windows were on the sides and back of the house. A large front porch and balcony graced the front of the two-story home. There was plenty of room for their growing children to run and play.

"These are yours now." The mortgage broker said with a smile, handing the house keys to Aaron as he slid the paperwork across the desk.

"So what do you think of having one last hurrah at the condo before we move?" Emily asked as they climbed into the SUV to pick up the kids from JJ and Reid's, as Avery and Seth were having a play date with Chloe and Henry.

"What are you thinking?" Aaron asked as he turned to look at Emily.

"Cookout and kiddie pool on the roof? We can watch the fireworks on the roof if the kids last that long… and if they don't then we can watch the fireworks from inside the condo." Emily replied as she turned to look at Aaron.

Aaron turned to look at Emily as he stopped at a stop light. "You're going to miss the view of the National Mall being right outside your living room window aren't you?"

Emily smiled. "Maybe just a little bit, but it's a fair trade off for the kids having a yard that they can play in right outside the window. Plus I was thinking instead of putting the condo on the market, maybe we should keep it as an investment. With the view and the location it would be easy to lease out."

Aaron grinned. "You just don't want to let it go… but I agree."

 

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"Dad?" Tim asked as he walked out onto the deck where his Dad and Mudgie sat, relaxing on a summer Saturday afternoon. Mudgie lifted his head to look at Tim. Tim paused and scratched the black lab behind the ears.

"Hey Tim" Dave said as he looked at his son. "What's up?"

"I was wondering… well… can I play football in the fall?" Tim asked.

Dave looked at his son. "I think we need to talk about it. I'm not saying no; just that we need to include your Mom in the discussion and she's not home right now. We've got a couple months... you might change your mind about wanting to play."

"But all the guys are going to play…they've been talking about it for weeks now." Tim replied.

The wheels in Dave's head began to spin as he listened to his son speak. The profiler in him couldn't help but notice Tim's choice of words. They've been talking about it… not we've been talking about it. "Tim, do you want to play football because it's what you want to do, or because it's what your friends want you to do?" Dave asked in a concerned tone.

Tim shrugged and looked down at his shoes.

"Hey, kiddo, look at me." Dave said getting Tim's attention. Once Tim lifted his head, Dave spoke again. "It's okay if you don't want to play football… and it's okay to tell your friends that you don't want to do something." He figured he better drill this point home now while it was still about simple things like football… in a few years it might end up being about sex, alcohol, or drugs and he wanted Tim to have the tools he needed to withstand peer pressure. "So do you really want to play football?"

Tim sighed as he sat down in the chair next to his Dad. "I don't know… it's at the same time as soccer… and I really like soccer, but most of the guys are going to go out for football."

"Tim, you're really good at soccer. There's nothing wrong with you wanting to continue to play soccer. There's also nothing wrong with you wanting to play football as long as it's what you want." Dave said as he and Tim continued to discuss the pros and cons of football and soccer.

 

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Spence held JJ's hand as they sat together in Dr. Green's office waiting for him to meet with them. Spence was having a follow up appointment for his pineal cyst. They both turned to look as the door to Dr. Green's office opened.

"Hi Spencer and JJ." Dr. Ryan Green said as he slipped in the door, pausing to shake their hands before he made his way around the desk. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. I know we talked about avoiding surgery if at all possible," The doctor said as he pulled up the scans of Spence's brain that they'd just taken on the monitor, "but I'm worried that might not be a possibility." Dr. Green said as he pointed out the cyst on the screen. "You can see here when compared to your MRIs from a few months ago how it's grown. The growth isn't out of control, and it's just a slight bit of growth, but it's clearly more than the diuretics are able to keep up with, let alone reduce."

JJ squeezed Spence's hand. Spence squeezed back and took a deep breath. "So surgery then?"

"Surgery is never something to trifle with, but I really do honestly believe it to be your best option at this point." Dr. Green replied. "Since the diuretics aren't working, our other options are a shunt to drain the cyst or surgery to remove the cyst. In the case of a pineal cyst, the surgery to remove the cyst isn't any more invasive than it would be to place the shunt. In the surgery to remove the cyst, we would also remove the wall of the cyst, making it extremely unlikely for there to be a re-occurrence. With a shunt, we would need to wait to see if the shunt drained the cyst enough to reduce the swelling. There's a chance the shunt could become blocked, or that it might not work at all."

Spence swallowed as he continued to look at the MRIs of his brain on the screen. "What are the risks?"

Dr. Green nodded as he pulled a diagram up on the monitor next to the most recent MRI of Spencer's brain. "Well as with any surgery, there is always a risk. I know it sounds like it, but it isn't actually considered brain surgery. We'd access the cyst from beneath your brain with the use of a microscopic endoscope that magnifies the area by 50 times and a navigation system to get us to the cyst. Most patients become asymptomatic after surgery. The surgery entails a 6-8 week recovery, a small incision in the head, and removal of a small section of skull bone, which grows back after surgery. The biggest risk is infection, as with any surgery." He explained as he walked Spencer and JJ through a diagram detailing the surgery.

Spence licked his lips and looked at JJ. "What do you think?"

JJ looked from the diagram to Dr. Green, to Spence. "I think you should have the surgery Spence. I want you to feel better. The drugs haven't helped. I know the headaches are making you miserable as much as you try to hide it. Is it what you want to do?"

Spence blinked at JJ knowing him as well as she did… but then she was his wife. "Yeah" he replied clearing his throat. "I want the headaches to be gone and to not have to deal with them anymore."

"Okay then." JJ nodded squeezing Spence's hand. Then the couple turned to look back at Dr. Green together. "What, um… exactly does the surgery consist of?" JJ asked, wanting to prepare herself for what exactly her husband would be going through.

Dr. Green pulled up the MRI of Spencer's brain again. "We begin by creating a 'keyhole' smaller than a dime behind the ear." The doctor began to explain. "From there, I'll slide a slender endoscope over the top of the cerebellum and through a natural pathway to access the deep-seated pineal cyst. We won't need any retractors or need to go through any of the normal brain tissue. We'll excise the cyst and the cyst wall. And that's it." He explained as he traced the path they would use on the MRI. "The surgery will take about two hours. We'll keep you for observation for a couple of days and then you'll be able to go home. It will take you about six to eight weeks to completely recover."

Spence nodded. "How soon can you get me in?"

"How does later this week work?" Dr. Green asked.

 

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JJ paced anxiously in the waiting room. Spence had been in surgery for just over two hours and she was beginning to worry that something had gone wrong. 'Dr. Green had said two hours. Why aren't they done yet?' JJ thought as she continued to pace.

"JJ, come on. Sit down." Emily encouraged, patting the seat next to her.

Once Reid and JJ had shared Reid's medical situation with the rest of the team, Emily had volunteered to sit with JJ while waiting for Reid to get out of surgery. The entire team had wanted to be there, however with small children at home for everyone; and the current case load of the team, that just wasn't realistic. To be honest, JJ was a little relieved. Having the entire team there while she waited would be overwhelming.

"I can't Em. If I sit still all I'll do is think about what could be going wrong." JJ replied as she continued to pace. She glanced down and checked her watch. 'How can time be moving so slow?' She asked herself mentally, noting that it was only just past two hours.

At that moment Dr. Green appeared in the doorway to the waiting room. He pulled off his mask and his hat. "The surgery was a success. We were able to drain the cyst and remove the cyst wall. There shouldn't be a reoccurrence. Spencer's in recover now, but once we get him transferred to his room, you'll be able to see him."

JJ's chest heaved with a deep sigh of relief.

"I do want to caution you just so you're prepared." The doctor began to explain, "We needed to shave part of his head. He's bandaged up as well, so right now, it looks worse than it is."

JJ nodded in understanding. "Thank you Dr. Green."

Dr. Green smiled, happy that he'd been able to keep his promise to his wife. "It was just my job, but you're welcome. Once Spencer is in his room, I'll come and get you."

JJ nodded as she finally sat down in the seat next to Emily and let out a shaky breath.

Emily rubbed JJ's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah… I just… I was so worried… I know Spence needed to have the surgery. He was miserable with the headaches… but I was just so worried." JJ replied as she took a deep calming breath. "It's just a relief to not only have an answer, but that Spence should feel better now."

Emily nodded in understanding as she watched JJ sag in relief.

 

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JJ stretched her neck as she sat on the couch reading one of her texts for her training. She had arranged to work a flexible schedule the first couple of weeks that Spence was recovering from his surgery. She worked half days at the office while the team was in town. When the team was out of town, she worked from home.

So now she sat on the couch reading her text while Chloe and Henry napped. Rebecca was studying upstairs just in case she was needed. Spence had stretched out on the couch with his head in her lap and three and a half month Joshua lying on his chest. They were both sound asleep. As she read, JJ absent mindedly ran her fingers through her husband's now closely cropped head of hair.

Spence had decided to cut his hair shorter on top and buzzed on the sides for the summer so that the spot that his head had needed to be shaved for the surgery would be able to catch up with the rest of his hair instead of attempting to mask a temporary bald spot on the side of his head.

 

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Emily laughed and tossed a crumpled piece of newspaper at Aaron as they worked to unpack the last couple of boxes while Avery and Seth took a nap.

Aaron lunged at Emily and pinned her to the wall, kissing his way up and down her neck as he tickled her.

Emily laughed. "Okay, okay, you win. You can have a shelf on the bookshelf for your law books." she said as they worked to set up their home office in the new house.

"Mmm… don't want to talk about law books now." Aaron mumbled against his wife's neck as his hands skimmed over her hips.

"Aaron… ah…" Emily moaned, her head tipping back to lean against the wall and her fingers running through his hair as he nibbled on her collar bone. Then she groaned for an entirely different reason as his cell phone rang and he pulled away from her neck.

"Hotchner" Aaron said as he answered his phone at seeing the Director's number on his caller ID. "Good afternoon sir."

 

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"Avery and Seth still asleep?" Aaron asked as Emily stepped out onto the roof of their condo building.

"Yeah. I just thought I'd come up and see how you were doing up here?" Emily asked as she held up the baby monitor in her hand.

"I think we're all set except for bringing up the food and everything when we're ready for that." Aaron said as he looked around at the picnic type area they'd created on the roof to be able to enjoy the Fourth of July with the team.

"Good job honey." Emily said as she settled her hands on his hips and leaned in to kiss him. "Mm," she moaned as she pulled away, "I should go back down; everybody will be here soon and Avery and Seth will be awake soon too."

 

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"Hey Hotch; man you want some help with the grill?" Morgan asked as he stepped up next to Hotch who was flipping burgers and hot dogs on the grill and handed him a beer.

"Thanks Morgan," Hotch replied taking a long swig of the ice cold beer, "but I think we're good for now." He said as he closed the lid on the grill and turned back to look at the rest of the team who were congregated near the blow up pool.

"Pretty boy's lookin' healthy right?" Morgan asked as he and Hotch stood watching the team from a distance.

Reid and JJ sat next to each other close to the pool so that Joshua, who was sitting in Reid's lap, could see all of the kids playing in the pool. Joshua laughed, giggled, and flailed his arms as he watch Chloe, Henry, Seth, Avery, Jack, Jake, and Billy play together in the pool.

The rest of the team sat around the edge of the pool talking, but also closely watching the kids play in the pool.

"Yeah, I think so. I'm glad the surgery seems to have worked for him. I just wish he would have told us all sooner." Hotch said with a nod.

Morgan rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.

"You knew, didn't you?" Hotch asked, not missing one of Morgan's distinctive tells.

"I uh… yeah… he told me a few months ago." Morgan said, holding back the fact that Reid had also told Emily about his headaches.

Hotch nodded. "I should have been made aware… what if something had happened in the field?"

"But it didn't. The kid's had the surgery and everything is good now. I think we all just need to move on… it's been a rough year so far and the year isn't even half over yet." Morgan replied, wanting to smooth things over and avoid causing an argument for Emily and Hotch just before he left to spend the next few months leading and training an investigative unit in Pakistan.

Hotch nodded. "You're right... I just wish he'd felt he could trust us enough to tell us."

"I don't think it's a matter of trust. I think that it's easy to forget just how much we are all in each other's lives between work and being friends… I think it was about keeping it private between him and JJ until he knew exactly what was wrong… and there's nothing wrong with that. Hell, we're all entitled to keep things to ourselves from time to time."

Hotch chuckled. "Right… as long as that doesn't include you right?" he teased, remembering how Morgan had reacted to the revelations of various secrets over the years.

Morgan mumbled under his breath and rubbed the back of his neck as he remembered what an ass he'd made of himself on a few occasions when secrets had been revealed. "Yeah, I'ma head…" he replied, pointing toward Penelope and the group with his beer.

Hotch grinned and shook his head as he turned around to check the grill. As he was turning the food, Dave stepped up beside him.

"You know everyone is going to be okay while you're gone, right?" Dave said as he stood watching his longtime friend and protégé studiously man the grill so that he wouldn't have time to think about how 48 hours from now, he'd be leaving for parts unknown half-way around the world.

"I know," Hotch sighed as he turned to look at Dave, "but that doesn't mean that I'm going to miss them any less." He said turning back around to watch as Jack, Avery, and Seth played together with the other kids in the pool.

"You know, if I were you, I'd go spend every last moment I could with my family before I had to leave for a couple of months in a couple of days." Dave said as he pushed Aaron towards the side of the roof where everyone else was sitting. "I'll watch the grill… you go."

 

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"Oh I miss mine being this little." Erin said as she cuddled baby Joshua. "Enjoy these days while you can Jennifer and Spencer. The years will fly by and before you know it, your little ones will be teenagers spending the Fourth of July with their friends instead of with family." she said somewhat mournfully.

JJ smiled as she watched Erin holding Joshua. It was hard to believe this was the same woman who had constantly been a thorn in the team's side in another life. Being together with Dave seemed to have grounded and humanized her. Joshua rested his head on Erin's shoulder and turned his head to look at Mommy as his little face scrunched up.

"Uh oh… I know that face." JJ said as she glanced down at her watch. "He's hungry and then its nap time."

Erin nodded. "Alright sweet boy, back to Mommy you go." She said as she passed the baby boy back to his mother. "I'm actually going to go see how David is doing over at the grill." She said as she excused herself.

JJ nodded as she looked down at Joshua who was squirming and fussing in her arms. She turned to look at Spence. "I'm going to go downstairs and feed Josh." She said as she leaned in to kiss her husband.

"Okay, see you in a little bit." He said as their lips parted and then gave his wife another quick peck on the lips.

Elle shook her head as she watched. It was hard to believe sometimes just how much Reid had grownup right before their eyes in the last several years. "So Reid, how have you been spending all of your free time?" she asked referring to the first couple of weeks since he'd had his surgery.

Reid glanced away from the pool for a second to look at Elle. "I've been doing a lot of resting and just enjoying spending some extra time with Chloe, Henry, and Josh… and I've helped JJ study."

"Sounds like some great downtime to me… although I suppose I wouldn' wan' to have to have surgery to ge' it." Will commented from where he sat next to Elle with his arm wrapped around her shoulders while they watched Billy and Seth play together in the water.

"Daddy?" Henry said as he stood up from the water and turned to look at Spence.

"Yeah buddy?" Spence grinned at hearing the Henry's developing language skills that had made another leap forward in the last few weeks.

"I gotsa go potty." Henry said as he stood in the water holding himself.

"Okay, can you hold it for a minute until we get inside?" he asked.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded.

"Okay" Spence said as he scooped Henry up out of the pool and wrapped a towel around him before settling him on his hop. "How about you Chloe? Do you have to go potty?"

Chloe shook her head, too busy wrapped up in playing with Avery and Jack to answer Daddy's question.

"Hey Elle can you…" Reid started to ask.

"Don't worry Reid; we'll watch Chloe for you." Elle replied, already knowing what he was going to ask.

Spence carried Henry down the stairs and the hall and into Emily and Hotch's condo.

JJ turned to look as she sat on the couch breast feeding Joshua, and drew the blanket over herself and Joshua at the sound of the door opening, but relaxed when she saw that it was Spence. "Hey, what are you guys doing in here?" she asked.

"Henry has to go potty." Spence replied as he set Henry down on his feet at the door to the bathroom. "Do you need help buddy?"

"No I do it." Henry replied as he did the potty dance into the bathroom.

Spence shook his head and followed Henry into the bathroom as he watched his two and a half year old son struggle with pulling down his wet trunks.

A few minutes later Henry and Spence exited the bathroom. "Daddy I cold." Henry said as he looked up at Daddy.

"That's because you're wet from the pool still. Here let's wrap you back up in your towel and then we'll go back outside. Then you can play in the pool some more until it's time to eat." Spence said as he wrapped Henry's beach towel around him.

As Daddy picked him back up, he noticed Mommy sitting on the couch and waved. "Hi Mommy!" he said, excited to see Mommy.

JJ chuckled. "Hey little man. Are you having fun playing in the pool?"

"Yep!" Henry nodded, popping the 'P', "What you doing?"

"Josh needed a snack." JJ replied as she looked up at her eldest son and husband while lifting her youngest son up onto her shoulder to burp him.

"Ooooh" Henry replied, drawing out the 'O'. "Hi Doshiea!" he said as he waved at his baby brother.

Spence smiled as JJ and bent down to kiss her. "See you outside in a few minutes."

"I kiss" Henry said tapping Daddy on the shoulder as he kissed Mommy.

"You want a kiss too?" JJ asked.

Henry nodded.

"Smart boy." Spence replied with a grin as he leaned in again so that Henry could kiss Mommy.

"That's because he takes after his Daddy." JJ replied with a wink as Henry gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

 

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"Louise! Declan!" Emily exclaimed greeting the blond pre-teen and his nanny/mother. "I'm so glad you could make it." She said as she hugged them both. With Doyle now locked away in maximum security, Emily felt it was safe for her visits to Declan no longer needed to be a secret. In fact Jack had quickly become the older boys' biggest fan. "Hey Jack, look who's here." Emily said as turned with her arm wrapped around Declan.

"Declan!" Jack exclaimed excitedly. "Chloe, you'll like Declan. He's super fun." Jack explained to his younger friend.

Declan smiled and waved at Jack as he took in the sight of all the kids, the pool, the cookout, and then he noticed the view of the National Mall. "Whoa…"

"Pretty cool huh?" Emily asked, "just wait until tonight when we get to see it all lit up with fireworks."

"Sweet!" Declan replied with a nod, before heading over to join Jack and the littler kids by the pool.

 

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"What are you thinkin' baby girl?" Morgan asked as he slid behind where Penelope was leaning against the wall and slid his arms around her waist, rubbing her developing baby bump.

Penelope leaned her head back against Derek's shoulder. "I'm just watching Declan and thinking how glad I am that Emily saved him from being sucked into everything with Doyle… he's such a great kid." She said referencing the few times the team had met him in the months since everything that happened in Boston.

Derek nodded and then rested his chin on his wife's shoulder. "Yeah, it's nice to know that sometimes something good can come from something bad."

"Mm hm" Penelope replied, turning her head and nuzzling into her husband's neck. "mmm…" she moaned.

"Baby girl… the kids…" Derek whispered in his pregnant, hormonal and now in her second trimester, wife's ear.

"Are asleep, my chocolate god." She replied as she nipped his ear and pointed over to where all of the younger kids were sacked out on pillows and blankets under shade umbrellas in the corner of the roof top deck.

"Baby girl… I don't think our friends would enjoy the show…" he chuckled.

"Fiiiiiiine" Penelope whined in response, "but I am sooooo taking advantage of you when we get home."

Derek laughed and kissed Penelope's neck. "Baby girl, it's only taking advantage if the advances aren't welcomed… I will always very much welcome your advances." He said as he kissed her neck again and rubbed her belly.

 

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Ooos and aaahhhs filled the roof top as the Hotchner, Reid, Morgan, LaMontagne, and Rossis sat on the roof watching the fireworks over the National Mall. Above the skyline and away from the crowds the music being played by the National Symphony Orchestra carried to them and accompanied the fabulous fireworks display.

Hotch wrapped his arms around his family as they sat watching the fireworks, knowing that he had to squeeze all the family time that he could into the next couple of days before he left for Pakistan. He knew going was the right thing to do with the fact that the training he would provide could save countless soldiers' lives. He and Emily had discussed it and agreed, but that didn't mean that he was going to miss his family any less. He wondered how much would change while he was away. Would Jack lose his first tooth? What new word would Seth learn? How much would Avery grow?

Emily looked over at Aaron. She'd miss him while he was gone… the kids would miss him while he was gone. How would they make the most of the time they had before they went to see him off at the airport? How would she keep him as a tangible part of the kids and her life to minimize the separation they would all go through as much as possible? Then she smiled as Avery and Seth squealed at the fireworks that Declan pointed out to them. She smiled as she glanced across Aaron to where Jack sat watching the fireworks with Chloe.

JJ reached down and ran her fingers through Chloe's hair where she sat next to her with Jack watching the fireworks. Henry was bouncing excitedly in place between her and Spence as they watched the fireworks. She smiled as she listened to Spence quiz Henry on his colors as they watched the fireworks. Joshua was sleeping through the fireworks… like a baby, completely undisturbed by the bangs and whistles of the fireworks as the exploded overhead not all that far away. She studied Spence's profile, looking for any sign that the fireworks might be bothering him; and was relieved to find that even with all the noise and time outdoors in the bright sun today, that she didn't notice any signs indicating that he had a headache.

Spence smiled as he looked at Joshua asleep in his baby seat, Chloe sitting with Jack watching the fireworks, and then at Henry eagerly enjoying the loud noise and exploding colors of the fireworks.

"Boom!" Henry screeched excitedly throwing his hands in the air as another rocket exploded mid-air releasing its brightly colored fountain of light into the sky.

Spence laughed. "You like those huh?"

"Yep" Henry said leaning against Daddy as he yawned.

"Looks like a couple certain someones are getting tired." Spence said to JJ as he wrapped his arm around Henry.

"I don't think they're the only ones." JJ replied with a quick glance around at the dropping energy level of all of the kids as the fireworks began to wind down. "With all the fresh air they got today, I think they'll be asleep as soon as we get them in their car seats."

"They've had a busy day today, so I wouldn't be surprised." Spence replied as Henry snuggled closer.

"How about you? How's your head?" JJ asked.

Spence nodded. "It's good… no headache what-so-ever." He watched mesmerized as the exploding fireworks reflected in his wife's endlessly blue eyes. Then he leaned in and kissed her softly. "I love you." he whispered.

"I love you too baby." JJ murmured in reply against Spence's soft lips as they pulled apart.

Elle leaned back against Will's chest with a sleeping Billy in her arms. Will pulled his wife's hair back behind her shoulder and leaned down kissing her on the neck. "Ready to go home as soon as the fireworks are over cher?"

Elle tipped her head back to look at her husband. "Yeah… we have a very tired little boy to put to bed."

"Cher, I'm really not that tired." Will replied with a grin.

Elle slapped Will's thigh. "I wasn't talking about you."

"Oh good… because I was hoping I could talk my wife into staying up for a while once we got home." Will murmured as he traced the edge of Elle's ear with the tip of his nose.

"Oh?" Elle replied. "Was there a movie or something you wanted to watch?" She teased.

Will laughed softly at Elle's teasing. "More like something I wanna do… with you."

Elle laughed then and turned her head to kiss her husband. "Rrrrrrrrrrrr" she growled into his ear, rolling her Rs, "Tu eres un chico travieso."

Will groaned into Elle's ear. "Cher, you know that isn't even fair…" He thought it was sexy as hell when his wife spoke Spanish.

Elle chuckled and kissed Will's neck. "I promise I will take care of you when we get home mi esposo."

"Baby girl, am I going to have to carry you and Jake to the car?" Derek asked as he glanced down at Penelope resting her head on his shoulder as she ran her fingers through their sleeping son's blond curls.

"Mm nn" Penelope replied sleepily as she lifted her head from Derek's shoulder. "I'm just a little tired from all the fresh air today… well maybe that and I forgot how tiring it is to grow a person."

Derek gave a low throaty laugh. "Alright… you just sleep as much as you need to baby girl." He responded, kissing the top of her head as she laid her head back on his shoulder.

 

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"Do any of you need any help?" Dave asked, watching in amazement, the efficiency with which each family managed to pack up their sleeping progeny and all of the necessary supplies for a day out.

"No, I think we're all good." Morgan replied as he strapped a sleeping Jake into his stroller and then grabbed a backpack and the now empty cooler that they'd brought.

"Yeah, us too;" Will replied, "but, thanks."

Erin turned to watch as Spencer and JJ worked as a unified team, as they worked to pack up their gear and three soundly sleeping children. "Spencer, Jennifer, do you need any help?"

JJ shook her head as she attached Joshua's baby seat to his stroller. "No, I think we've got it."

"Yeah, we're good." Spence replied as he settled first a sleeping Chloe, and then a sleeping Henry into the double stroller. Then he picked up two child sized backpacks and an empty cooler, while JJ picked up Joshua's diaper bag and her purse.

"How about you guys Aaron?" Dave asked, turning to look at his best friend.

"We're actually staying here tonight. The movers are coming to pick up the last of the furniture tomorrow and take it to the house." He replied.

"Well then, I guess we'll say thank you and good night." Dave replied, shaking Aaron's hand. "Travel safe my friend. You have a lot of people who need you back here." He said, knowing that in all likelihood he wouldn't see Aaron again before he left for Pakistan. The next couple of days would be spent with his wife and children and to be honest there wasn't a single one of them on the team that blamed him for doing so.

"Thanks Dave" Aaron replied as he clasped his friend's hand. "I'll see you in a few months."

 

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Emily sighed as she entered her and Aaron's bedroom. He'd been gone a few weeks and she missed him terribly. Yes they spoke every day that the team didn't have a case. When the team had a case, he Skyped with just the kids, as he only got to make one call a day. Haley brought Jack over first thing in the morning so that he, Avery, and Seth could talk to Daddy together at the end of his day.

Emily opened the closet and pulled out a couple of Aaron's t-shirts. She quickly changed into one for pajamas. She spritzed some of her husbands after shave on the other t-shirt and climbed into bed. She grabbed Aaron's pillow from his side of the bed and slipped the t-shirt over the pillow, cuddling it to her chest as she lay down. She closed her eyes and dreamed that it was her husband in her arms, not a pillow clad in one of his t-shirts.

 

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"Daddy?" Chloe asked as she entered the kitchen where Daddy was making dinner.

"Yeah princess?" Spence replied, stepping away from the stove and kneeling down to Chloe's height.

"When's Mommy coming home?" Chloe asked.

"You miss Mommy huh?" Spence asked.

Chloe nodded, biting her lip just like Mommy did from time to time.

"Well," Spence replied, pulling JJ's brown eyed mini-me close, "I miss Mommy too…" he explained as he kissed Chloe on the top of the head. The team had had an incredibly busy summer; the last week and a half had seen the team go from Little Rock to Indianapolis to Portland Oregon, all without coming home in between cases.

Luckily he'd spoken to JJ earlier. Gideon had put the team on stand down for the next few days and told them all to take a long weekend so that they could spend some time with their families. He smiled as he heard the front door open. "Why don't we go see who's at the door princess?"

Chloe took Daddy's hand as he stood up and led him to the front door. On seeing who it was that was closing the door, the little girl gave an excited screech. "MOMMY!" she said, letting go of Daddy's hand and heading for Mommy.

"Hey baby girl!" JJ replied happily, kneeling down to catch Chloe and giving her a big hug and kiss.

Henry had heard Chloe from the living room, where he was playing with Rebecca and Joshua and came running, nearly knocking Mommy over as he leapt into her arms. "MOMMY!"

"Hey little man!" JJ replied eagerly and it was hugs and kisses all around as she greeted her two oldest children after being away from home for the better part of a week and a half.

Rebecca handed Joshua to Spencer, knowing that the family would want to spend some time together bonding after JJ being away for so long at once. After telling JJ a quick "Welcome home," she slipped out the door to go to her apartment and call her boyfriend.

"Hey guys, why don't we go in the living room?" Spence asked. "Then Mommy can spend time with you and Josh while I finish dinner."

"Tome on!" Henry said as he and Chloe each took one of Mommy's hands and started pulling her to the living room.

JJ laughed at Chloe and Henry's enthusiasm. "Hi baby. Hi Josh." JJ said stealing a quick kiss from Spence and planting a quick kiss on the side of Joshua's head as she was dragged past them.

JJ sat down on the couch and then helped Chloe and Henry climb up to sit on either side of her just before Spence sat Joshua in her lap.

"Just relax and spend time with the kids for right now. They missed you a lot." He murmured against her lips as he leaned in for a quick hello kiss. "I'll let you know as soon as dinner's ready." He said as he pulled away.

JJ nodded and then turned her attention back to the kids as Chloe and Henry happily chattered away about how they'd spent the last week.

"Hey you." JJ murmured as she pulled back the covers on her side of the bed and then climbed in and curled up next to Spence, raising herself up on one arm the look down at Spence who was lying with his arms behind his head.

Spence smiled. "Hi. I missed you so much." He replied as pulled one arm from behind his head and lifted it, his hand cupping his wife's face as his thumb traced her jaw and chin.

"I missed you too baby. So much…" JJ murmured, turning her head to kiss the palm of Spence's hand, and then lowering herself to kiss him as they cuddled and caught up on everything that had happened both at home and with the team over the course of the last week and a half.

 

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"Hey, where's Spence?" JJ asked as she exited Rossi's office, closed text and note pad in hand, having just finished going over some things with Rossi.

"He's at the firing range. He was talking about how nervous he was about his re-qualifications and then somebody," Penelope said as she shot a glare at her husband, "found a whistle in the bottom of his desk drawer and thought it would be funny to give to my Junior G-man. Reid… he looked pissed Jayje." Penelope said with concern and then swatted Derek on the back of the head for good measure.

"Hey, come on!" Morgan squealed, raising his hands to protect his head. "Pretty boy knew I was only kidding." Penelope swatted him again, this time on the shoulder. "Ow… baby girl!"

"You are a big… you're a big… you're a bully!" Penelope gasped emotionally and then stood up and stormed off to her lair.

"I… JJ what just happened?" he asked as he looked from where his wife was stomping away to the Pennsylvania Petite.

JJ sighed. "Morgan, I know you mean well and that to you teasing is a sign of affection, but one of these days you're going to push Spence too far and he's going to push back. I just hope you're prepared when he decides to get revenge." Then she turned on her heal and head for the elevator lobby and to go find her husband.

Morgan's face scrunched up in confusion wondering what exactly he could possibly have to worry about from the kid. Then he decided that if he valued his life, he should go check on his wife.

JJ stood next to the Range Master watching Spence on the qualifications course with her arms crossed, silently fuming about Morgan teasing Spence about his firearms skills yet again. How many times did he have to prove himself? To Morgan, it might only be the friendly teasing of an older brother to a younger brother; but, she knew just how seriously Spence took anyone implying a weakness or deficiency on his part.

The Range Master grinned and shook his head. "I pity anyone who thinks that you or your husband makes an easy target." He said drawing JJ out of her thoughts. "Two best damn shots I've seen in recent years."

"I'm sorry?" JJ asked as she turned to look at the Range Master.

"He's gone through several times today. I just marked him down as a pass on his qualification. He's been well above the 80 percent required and been damn near perfect on each pass through. It hasn't mattered if he's used his hand gun, the shot gun, the sub-machine gun, or the carbine. It's hard to believe he's the same guy that struggled to pass his qualifications six years ago."

JJ smiled proudly, knowing just how hard Spence had worked to make it look like he couldn't pass his qualification after all the practice they'd put in on the range so that he could pass his qualifications. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that he passed, especially since I'm sure he didn't know that he was actually being tested right now."

The Range Master shrugged. "Not much point in making him come back to take the test later when I can see he already meets the standards now."

"No, I suppose there isn't." JJ said as she turned back to watch Spence on the qualifications course.

Spence grinned as he walked off the elevator with his arm wrapped around JJ. Although it hadn't been his intention to take his firearms qualifications this afternoon, he was glad it was over.

As they walked through the double glass doors into the bullpen, he pulled that damn whistle that Morgan had given him not once, but twice now, out of his pocket. Seeing that Morgan was heads down in his paperwork, he couldn't resist. He lifted the whistle to his lips as he and JJ stopped about ten feet behind Morgan's desk.

Elle saw what was about to go down in the bullpen as she and Emily exited the break room with coffee cups in hand. She reached out and rested her hand on Emily's shoulder and nodded towards where Reid and JJ stood behind Morgan.

"Oh shit," Emily muttered, "What's he doing?"

"I suspect getting back at Morgan." Elle replied, remembering how upset Reid had been at Morgan's whistle joke six years ago. It hadn't been all that funny then… and it was even less funny now. "I say good for him. It's nice to see him standing up for himself. It's the only way Morgan is going to learn."

Emily smiled and nodded as they both turned to watch what was about to happen in the bullpen.

Morgan jumped sky high at the sound of a whistle blowing directly behind him. Most of the bullpen laughed as they watched him spin around in his seat to find Reid and JJ standing directly behind him.

Spence grinned and took the whistle out of his mouth and tossed it at Morgan as he passed by.

Morgan rubbed his ear and then looked down at the whistle in his hands and shook his head. Just as he was opening his desk drawer to drop it back in, JJ walked by and pulled it out of his hands and tucked it into her own pants pocket.

 

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"Happy birfay to you, happy birfay to you" Henry grinned as he sang.

"Happy birthday dear Rebecca" JJ sang as she held five month old Joshua with Spence's arm wrapped around her waist.

"Happy birthday to you" Chloe sang as the whole family sang 'Happy Birthday' to Rebecca.

Rebecca teared up as her second adopted family sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. "Thanks you guys… this is… thanks." She said after blowing out the candles on her cake, not knowing what else to say.

She of course knew to expect it, since JJ and Spencer had celebrated her birthday every year for the last three years, but it still moved her to be included as part of their family. She'd always wanted older brothers and sisters while she was growing up. She supposed in part she'd always missed the family that she was supposed to have grown up with, but didn't get a chance to know.

Chloe, Henry, and Joshua were more like nieces and nephews than just charges in her care as their nanny. It left her perplexed as to what the future held as she went into her senior year of college this year. At 24 she was just as anxious about what the future held after getting her college degree as any 22 year old would be.

"Becbec, why you cry?" Henry asked tipping his head to the side as he watched Rebecca wipe the tears from her eyes.

Rebecca laughed. "These are happy tears buddy. Sometimes people are so happy that they cry." She laughed again as Henry's little face scrunched up.

"Happy birthday Becbec!" Chloe cheered excitedly.

"Thanks Chloe!" Rebecca said as Chloe and Henry climbed up beside her.

"Can we have cake now?" Chloe asked causing Rebecca, Mommy, and Daddy to laugh.

"Yes, we can have cake now." JJ grinned as she handed Joshua to Rebecca and set about pulling out the candles and cutting the cake, while Spence grabbed plates and forks.

"So what do you have planned for this weekend to celebrate?" JJ asked as they sat eating cake.

"Well, Chad is meeting my parents when we go out to dinner for my birthday." Rebecca replied. "and after that, I really don't know. He mentioned taking me out to celebrate my birthday, but won't tell me where."

Spence stood up from the table as the girl talk between JJ and Rebecca continued. He grabbed a cloth from the counter and ran it under warm water. Then he proceeded to clean up their frosting and cake coated children.

"Daddy, more cake?" Henry asked.

Spence laughed and shook his head. "Sorry buddy, no more cake for today."

Henry pouted. "Why? I wike cake."

JJ smirked as she and Rebecca turned to see how Spence was going to respond.

"I know you do big guy, but if we eat too much cake it will keep us from being big and strong." Spence replied.

"I stwong. See." Henry replied lifting up his arms and making a flexing his muscles move.

JJ bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Wow, you're right. Those are some pretty big muscles!" Spence replied. "How about if we go outside and play?"

"Otay!" Henry replied, eagerly scrambling to get out of his booster seat and go outside and play with Daddy.

"You want to come with princess?" Spence asked Chloe as he washed her hands and face.

"Uh huh" Chloe nodded eagerly.

"Okay, let's go." Spence said stepping back so Chloe could climb down from her seat. "See you in a little bit." He said as he leaned down and kissed JJ; then he turned and blew a raspberry on Joshua's cheek as he sat in his high chair, causing the five month old to giggle and flail his arms and legs.

 

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"Mmm" Spence moaned and swatted at the hand tickling his belly as he slept.

"Come on baby, wake up. It's a beautiful day outside. We can feed the kids and go for a run." JJ murmured in his ear as she pressed up behind him.

"Are the kids awake yet?" Spence mumbled into the pillow as he felt behind him to discover that JJ was still in her pajamas.

"No" JJ replied. "but I wasn't planning on waking them up for bit yet." She grinned as she kissed his neck and her hand wandered along the waistband of his pajama pants.

Spence grinned and rolled onto his back, pulling his wife on top of him. "And just what did you have in mind then?"

"Hmm" JJ murmured as she lowered her head to kiss Spence while her hand crept under the waistband of his pajama pants.

Spence groaned low in his throat turned his head to look at the alarm clock. He grinned as he saw the time. The kids would all be asleep for at least a couple more hours. He wrapped his arms around JJ and rolled to the side as he buried his face in his wife's neck and began to kiss her senseless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAC - Senior Agent in Charge
> 
> Tu eres un chico travieso. - You are a very naughty boy.
> 
> Mi esposo - My husband


	18. Chapter 18

Spence smiled as he walked back in their bedroom from the bathroom and watched JJ sleeping in their bed, with her arms raised up above her head, just like the kids all did. He dropped his running shoes next to the bedroom door and sat down on the bed in his running shorts with his t-shirt in hand. Then he leaned down and nuzzled against JJ's ear as he whispered in her ear. "JJ, babe, wake up."

JJ gave a contented hum and arched her back in a stretch as she left dreamland. "Mm, best wake-up call ever." She murmured as she lifted her arms to wrap around Spence and discovered that he was shirtless. Her hands continued to explore her husband's chest, shoulders and back as she turned her head, and kissed him.

She broke the kiss and pouted, leaning back out of the kiss at the realization that Spence was wearing running shorts as her hands settled on his hips.

Spence smiled and leaned his head down against his wife's forehead. "I was thinking that we could get the kids up and take them for a run with us."

"Aren't they still sleeping?" JJ asked as her fingers played with the waistband of Spence's shorts.

"So we'll keep them in their pajamas and make sure they're all comfy and snuggly in their jogging strollers." Spence replied as he rested on his elbows above his wife. "Plus, Rebecca deserves a chance to sleep in before she starts classes again this week."

"Mkay, you sold me baby." JJ murmured as she levered herself up on her elbows and kissed Spence. "Let me just change quick while you finish getting dressed." She said with a nod of her head as his t-shirt in his lap and his shoes by the door.

Spence nodded and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "Okay" he replied and then stood up from the bed, letting JJ up.

 

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"Hey guys," Rebecca called out as she entered the kitchen a short while later, "what's the plan for today?" she asked as she closed the door behind her. Then she stood in confusion for a moment at the quiet emptiness of the Reid house at 7 am on a Saturday morning.

She walked into the kitchen in confusion about where everyone could be. Normally Chloe and Henry were already chattering away at this time of the morning, and the house would be bustling with activity as JJ and Spencer played with the kids and got ready for the day.

She turned on the light. There, stuck to the coffee maker, was a post-it note explaining that they'd taken the kids with them for a run so that she could sleep in. Too bad she hadn't been able to sleep anymore. With a smile, she set about getting breakfast ready for when the Reids returned from their run.

 

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"Hey, what are you doing up?" JJ asked as she entered the kitchen with Joshua in her arms. "We took the kids with us so that you'd be able to sleep in."

"Thanks for that," Rebecca replied with a smile, "but I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. So how was your run?" she asked as she reached out to take the baby from a hot and sweaty JJ.

"It was good… and something in here smells really good," JJ answered "and I'm pretty sure it's not me." She said as she pulled her sweaty tank away from her skin.

Rebecca smiled and then she and JJ turned to watch as Chloe and Henry hopped through the kitchen door.

"See how far I can hop Mommy!" Chloe exclaimed as she took a hop forward.

"Me too Mommy!" Henry shouted, not wanting to be left out.

"I see guys. Good job!" JJ answered as she watched them both hop once more.

"Mommy?" Henry asked as stopped next to Mommy and tapped her on the leg.

"Yeah little man?" JJ asked as she looked down at Henry, running her fingers through his soft blonde locks.

"I hunry." Henry said as he tipped his head back to look at Mommy.

"Me too." Chloe added.

Rebecca knelt down in front of Chloe and Henry, who were still dressed in their pajamas. "Well how about we have some scrambled eggs and some fruit while we wait for the cinnamon rolls to be done?" She asked as she settled Joshua in his high chair and JJ helped Chloe and Henry up into their booster seats.

Chloe and Henry nodded as their eyes went wide at the special treat for breakfast this morning.

Henry turned to look at Daddy as he entered the kitchen. "Daddy, Becbec made cimamom wolls!"

"She did! Wow; that must be what smells so good in here." Spence replied as he smiled at Chloe and Henry in their booster seats and Joshua sitting in his high chair. He wrapped an arm around JJ's waist, his fingers slipping underneath the edge of her t-shirt and dancing lightly across her skin to tickle her.

JJ slapped his chest. "You should go take a shower… you smell." She teased as she turned to look at her sweaty husband.

Spence leaned down as if to kiss her and then at the last moment, diverted to her neck and let his breath brush over her sweaty skin, causing goose bumps to rise on her skin. "No worse than you smell." He teased back, winking as he lifted his head and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Then he sat down next to Chloe at the table.

"Daddy you stinky." Chloe said wrinkling up her nose.

"Okay, okay. The natives have spoken." Spence laughed as he stood back up. "I'm going to go take a shower."

JJ laughed as Spence passed her and then slipped around the table to sit next to Henry.

Henry wrinkled his nose. "Mommy you 'tinky too."

JJ laughed. "Okay, I guess I'll go take a shower now too." She said standing up and ruffling Henry's hair as she left the kitchen.

Rebecca laughed and shook her head as she started scrambling eggs for Chloe and Henry.

 

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JJ smiled as she entered their bedroom and heard the shower still running. She kicked of her running shoes next to Spence's and then quickly peeled her sweaty running clothes off and dropped them in the hamper as she passed through their walk-in closet to the bathroom.

The steam from Spence's hot shower hit her as she crossed the bathroom and slid open the glass door to the shower. She paused as she closed the door to the shower, enjoying the view of her husband standing with his hands braced on the wall, his head tipped down as he let the hot water rush over his head. Rivulets of water beaded and ran down his back and across his ass, before sliding down his long lean legs.

JJ smiled as her eyes perused her husband's body. It appeared that his head was somewhere else right now and he hadn't heard her entering the shower. She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Spence's waist and pressed her lips to his back, kissing the space between his shoulder blades.

"You know, my wife is right downstairs." Spence said playfully as one of his hands settled on JJ's on his belly.

"Hm really?" JJ grinned as she continued placing kisses along the curve of her husband's spine.

"Yeah. You know she has a ooohhh," Spence moaned as JJ lightly nipped at the skin of his back, "badge and gun… and with the hand to hand skills she's been working on… you really don't want to …oh god babe." Spence gasped as his wife's hand slipped down his belly to wrap around his length, her fingers lightly teasing his balls for just a moment.

"So what were you saying about your wife?" JJ asked as her other hand slid up Spence's chest, teasing his skin softly as she held him close and continued to press kisses to his back.

"I… can't… remember…" Spence gasped, "God babe… I love you." Spence managed as he peeled JJ's hands free and turned to face her.

JJ's lifted her arms and wrapped them around Spence's neck as he turned to face her. "I love you too baby." She whispered as she leaned up to kiss Spence. She gasped as her back made contact with the cold shower tiles behind her. "Mm" She moaned in pleasure as Spence's warm body pressed up against hers.

Spence reveled in the feeling of his skin sliding over his wife's as the hot water from the shower beat down against their skin. "Do…you…have…any…idea…how…sexy…you…are?" he asked as he lowered his head and kissed his way across JJ's collar bone to the base of her neck. He alternated between placing kisses, nipping, and lapping at the water that beaded on her warm supple skin.

JJ's fingers flexed as her hand cupped the back of her husband's head. She yearned to be able to tangle her fingers in his locks, but while his hair had grown back over the last couple of months, it was still quite short. She settled for scraping her finger nails across his scalp as her head tipped back in pleasure to lean on the tiled wall of the shower.

Spence groaned against JJ's neck as he felt her toes trailing along his calf muscle. His fingers gripped her toned thigh and slid her leg up to rest on his hip.

JJ bucked her hips as Spence's hand slipped between them and teased her sensitive flesh. "Speeeeeence" she moaned drawing out his name as she turned her headed and captured his earlobe between her teeth, tugging ever so gently. "Baby, we don't have much time." She gasped and shuddered as Spence's fingers continued their exploration.

Spence nodded against her neck in understanding that while he would love nothing more than to spend the entire day ravishing his wife, their escapade in the shower would need to be a quickie… 'But then there was always tonight', he thought as his fingers continued to traverse the apex of JJ's thighs. He lifted his head and kissed JJ firmly at discovering that she was more than ready for him.

JJ moaned at the loss as Spence pulled his hand away, then squealed in surprise as he lifted her other leg up around his hips and she was pressed between her husband's hips and the tiled wall of the shower at her back as his hands supported her via their grip on the back of her thighs and her ass.

Spence groaned low in his throat as JJ shifted her hips, her ass wiggling where he held it cupped in his hands to support her as he pinned her to the wall. "JJ, babe…" he lifted his head, resting his forehead against his wife's, his nose brushing against hers.

As they gazed into each other's eyes, all that could be heard was the sounds of the water pelting the walls, the floor, and their bodies in conjunction with their racing breaths and beating hearts.

After their untold moments long silent conversation with their eyes, Spence pulled his hips back, and JJ reached between them, guiding him as he sank into her depths.

JJ crossed her legs tightly across Spence's back; her heals gripped his ass as she attempted to push herself as close as humanly possible. Her arms tightened around his shoulders. Her head tipped, capturing his lips. She nibbled on his lower lip begging entrance to the sanctuary of his mouth.

Spence grunted in satisfaction as JJ guided him home. And it was home, with JJ wrapped tightly around him, there was no other way to describe the intense feelings of love, satisfaction, contentment. This was home… this was where he'd always belonged.

Then JJ was nibbling on his lip and he kissed her back, his tongue darted out to dance with hers as the kiss grew heated and frenzied. Then just being inside JJ with her wrapped around him wasn't enough anymore and he drew slowly back, shifting JJ in his arms to get better leverage.

JJ gave a breathy moan as Spence began to move, his skin dragging deliciously along hers. She pulled her lips from his and began to kissing and nuzzling his neck. Her teeth tugged at his ear lobe. She traced the shell of his ear with her tongue, her hot breath blowing in his ear with each breathy moan.

JJ's hot breath in his ear left him unable to maintain the maddeningly slow pace that he'd set so far. His hips moved faster, setting a faster rhythm as he nuzzled his face against her neck. He chanted "I love you, I love you, I love you." over and over as he pressed kisses to her neck and nuzzled against her ear.

"I love you too baby." JJ gasped in his ear. She clutched at Spence's shoulders, neck, and the back of his head. Her hips swiveled moving in time with Spence's thrusts.

The heated, moist air of the shower ebbed and flowed past, between, and around them as Spence and JJ moved in unison to drive each other to new heights.

Spence fought against the rolling in his balls with all his might as he felt JJ clench around him. Knowing how close she was, he was determined to drive her over the edge before letting go himself. He drove his hips forward and upward again, his back bowing slightly as he exerted himself in causing JJ untold pleasure. Swiveling his hips ever so slightly as their hips met, he was rewarded with a shuddering gasp in his ear from JJ. With renewed vigor, each thrust was followed by a swivel of his hips.

JJ squinted her eyes shut as her head fell back exposing her throat as Spence continued his new onslaught to her senses. Every swivel of her husband's hips rubbed her just the right way. Combined with the circling of her own hips and the rhythmic thrusting of their hips in time with each other's, she was barely holding on.

Spence took advantage of JJ's exposed throat and worshiped the column of her graceful neck. He buried his face in the base of her neck and kissed up its length to the underside of her chin. He paused momentarily to nibble on her chin, then kissed his way back down the other side of her neck using a combination of light feathery kisses, open mouthed kisses, nips, licks, and nuzzling.

JJ clutched Spence close as his hot breath blew across the freshly kissed skin of her neck. It wasn't humanly possible to pull him closer, or she would have. She clung to him, the feel of his skin pressed and rubbing against hers as the hot water from the shower washed over them while they made love pushing her closer and closer to the threshold of her limits.

Spence decided to take a risk as he felt his wife's arms and legs draw even tighter in the grip around him. He slid one hand around from gripping her ass, pressing JJ tighter against the wall with the weight of his body to ensure he didn't drop her as he continued to thrust in time with JJ's hips. He slipped his now free hand between them to rest on her lower belly. He could feel the trembling of JJ's abdominal muscles against the tips of his fingers as he stretched his thumb down from where the palm of his hand rested against her golden curls. His thumb sought and found her dew covered pearl, circling it teasingly as he continued to meet his wife's hips, thrust for thrust.

JJ's eyes opened wide, her fingers gripping the back of Spence's head as she pulled his lips to hers in a heated needy kiss as all of the sensations culminated in their ultimate goal.

Spence swallowed JJ's cries of passion as wave after wave of pleasure filled bliss washed over her. As she spasmed and clenched around him, Spence felt his balls tighten yet again, and allowed himself to ride the crest of the next wave of his wife's orgasm letting go as the pleasure washed over them both. His body jerked against JJ's as he achieved his release, pressing her against the wall and driving her into the depths of another orgasm.

Spence stood gasping for breath in his wife's arms, his forehead resting against hers as he held her, still perched against the shower wall.

JJ raised her hand to brush Spence's wet bangs back from his face. "Hey you" she whispered as she stared in Spence's eyes and gently kissed him. "I love you."

Spence smiled. "I love you too, but we should probably finish up our shower before we run out of hot water."

JJ laughed and then moaned at the loss of closeness as she unwound her legs from Spence's hips and he helped her lower her feet to the floor as she slid down the length of his body. "You're right, but we should use the hot tub tonight. We wouldn't have to worry about running out of hot water." She teased stretching up to kiss him again.

"Mm" Spence moaned into the kiss. "No arguments here." He said as he wrapped his arms around his wife and then turned her into the spray of the shower as he reached for the shower gel.

 

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The doctor smiled at the joyful gasp his patient Penelope Garcia-Morgan made as the image of the baby came up on the screen. "Your baby is definitely healthy and on track developmentally." The doctor said as he turned to look at the Morgans. "So that leaves me with just one question. Would you like to know the sex of the baby?"

Penelope bit her lip as she turned to look up at Derek. Derek squeezed Penelope's hand and lifted his eyebrows in question as he looked at his wife, as if to say it was her decision. Penelope turned to look at the doctor. "Yes we would." She replied, biting her lip as the doctor nodded.

The doctor turned the monitor towards them. "Well, based on what you're seeing here, what do you think?"

Penelope gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand. Derek looked from Penelope to the screen and then back again. "Baby girl… it's a baby girl… right..." Derek trailed off as he looked down at the happy tears in his wife's eyes.

Penelope nodded. "We're having a baby girl." She sobbed as her emotions got the better of her.

Derek grinned, blissfully happy as he wiped away the tears on his wife's cheeks and then leaned down to kiss her. "Mama this makes me so happy… now I'm gonna have two baby girls." He whispered in Penelope's ear, causing her to giggle.

 

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Elle laughed as Will huffed and puffed his way to join her at the top of the trail. They'd decided to get outside and enjoy what would probably be one of the last summer weekends before fall weather set in. Will had suggested a hike, so here they stood in Great Falls Park in McLean looking down at the Potomac River as it thundered over the falls.

"Hey cher, how about if we set up in this picnic area for lunch? I think my little buddy is getting hungry." Will said glancing over his shoulder at Billy who was kicking his legs with his fingers in his mouth.

"Is Daddy talking about you Billy? Are you hungry?" Elle asked as she walked over to stand next to Will and Billy.

Billy squealed happily as Mommy came close. "Mama mama mama" He said excitedly as he reached for Mommy, wanting to get out of the backpack now that they were no longer moving.

"Just a second buddy." Will said over his shoulder and then turned to Elle, giving her a quick kiss. "Why don't I take this if you're going to take shorty?" Will asked indicating the backpack on Elle was wearing that held a blanket and their picnic lunch.

"Sounds like a deal to me." Elle grinned as she slipped the backpack off her shoulders and handed it to Will.

"This thing is heavy as hell cher. What do you have packed in here?" Will asked as Elle pulled Billy out of the baby backpack and then rested him on her hip and helped Will take it off.

"Food. I've seen you and Billy eat." Elle teased. "After lunch that backpacks going to be a lot lighter… of course yours might end up being a lot heavier."

Will shook his head and leaned down to look at Billy. "Do you hear that Billy. Momma thinks she's funny."

Billy laughed as Daddy made a funny face.

 

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Dave grinned at Erin as they walked along the trail at Little Creek with Mudgie. Mudgie ran a little bit watching the squirrels, birds, and wildlife, then his master called him back to heal and he trotted back to walk alongside him for a bit before running up ahead once again.

"So are you relieved that Tim picked soccer over football?" Dave asked as he looked down at Erin."

Erin nodded her head where it rested on David's shoulder. "Yes, to be honest just the thought of Tim playing football terrified me. So I'm very glad that he decided to stick with soccer."

"Me too." Dave nodded, rubbing Erin's shoulder as they continued their walk. "He's really good at soccer and I'm glad that he stood up to the peer pressure on something little and learned that it wasn't the end of the world. Someday he'll have to stand up to something much larger than his friends all wanting him to quit soccer and play football… and with everything we see… that terrifies me."

Erin nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is a terrifying world where nothing is always what it seems isn't it?" she mused.

"Something you want to talk about cara? Something wrong with the case? Are you and the task force any closer to finding who it was that was helping Doyle?" Dave asked in concern, able to see that something was bothering his wife.

Erin took a deep breath and lifted her head to look at David. "We've made great strides. We have people under surveillance. We've uncovered quite a bit of evidence, but we're waiting to find out if the people we have under surveillance lead to any other individuals being involved."

"Well then it sounds like hopefully this will be over soon then." Dave replied.

"Not soon enough." Erin replied. "Nothing can undo what these people have done."

Dave nodded. "Sadly that's the case with every case that crosses our desks. We can only stop the criminals; we can't rewind the clock."

 

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"So did everybody have fun today?" Emily asked as she glanced in the rearview mirror at Jack, Avery, Seth, and Declan. Avery and Seth were out cold after their active day.

She'd thought maybe Declan would enjoy a day away from the boarding school and had invited him to join them on an outing to the zoo. She'd even taken a day off from work in order to go so that they could avoid the crowds and fully enjoy the exhibits.

"It was super fun Emily!" Jack exclaimed. "Right Declan?" he asked as he turned to his older friend for confirmation.

"Yeah, I had a great time. Thanks for inviting me." Declan replied.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you could come and that you had a good time. I think your Mom misses you though since she offered to drop you off at school in the morning so that you could spend the night at home." Emily replied with a smile as she looked at Declan through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, she has to sign the permission slip for me to play lacrosse this year." Declan replied with a shrug.

"I thought lacrosse was played in the spring?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, the regular season is, but I'm old enough to be on the fall traveling team this year. It's gonna be so cool." Declan replied.

"I bet it is buddy. Are all of your games going to be away? Maybe we can come and see some of your games?" Emily said. "I don't really know anything about lacrosse, but you could teach me right?"

Jack bounced with excitement in his seat. "Me too! Me too! I want to learn too!"

"Really? You want to come and see me play?" Declan asked excitedly, "that would be so cool. I'll get you a copy of our game schedule as soon as we start practice."

Emily smiled at the enthusiasm of young boys. "Terrific. So do you have all your stuff?" she asked as she turned onto Louise, Declan, and Tom's street.

"Yeah, thanks again." Declan replied, preparing to get out as Emily slowed down approaching his house.

"You're welcome bud…" Emily trailed off as she noticed that something didn't look right as they got closer to the house. All of the lights in the house were off, including the front light, which was incredibly strange considering that Louise was expecting them back and should be home. Then her eyes widened as she watched three people walk out the front door of the house and across the street. "Guys, I need you to do me a favor okay?" Emily asked as she pulled into the first driveway she came to, "I need you to duck down so that nobody can see you okay?"

Both boys looked confused, but sadly given his history, Declan knew not to question it. That was a side effect of bad things happening at a young age, you learned to take warnings seriously. Declan helped Jack duck down and made a game of it as they hid underneath their jackets pretending to be spies, which meant they had to stay out of sight and be very quiet…if they only knew.

It took everything she had to stay calm in front of the kids, but inside she was panicking and wondering what was going on. She ran through the options in her head, knowing that she needed to get the kids out of here. She glanced back to make sure that Jack and Declan were down and out of sight. Then she quickly peaked in her side mirror. All eyes in the vehicle just the block and on the other side of the street appeared to be on the house…Declan's house. She took a deep breath and calmly backed out of the driveway she'd pulled into, hoping that their arrival on the block had been either missed or taken for granted.

She eased the car back out onto the street as if everything was normal so as not to arouse any suspicion and began to drive away. As she drove, she glanced into her rearview mirror, making sure that the mysterious car hadn't started following her. She held her breath as the driver's side door opened and the driver got out, inadvertently stepping under the street light. She gasped in the realization that she knew that man. At the end of the block she quickly turned the corner and made her way back to the freeway, hoping to get lost in traffic and keeping her eye on her rearview mirror, making sure they weren't being followed.

Emily debated where it would be safe to go and determined that there was probably only one safe place to go. The BAU. She'd call the team when she got there.

 

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"You too huh?" The guard said with a shake of his head. "I'll keep prayin' for y'all to get to work some normal hours." He replied as he waved Emily through as she showed her badge.

A look of confusion crossed Emily's face as she simultaneously pushed Avery and Seth's double stroller towards the elevator and guided Jack and Declan into the elevator as well.

"Emily, what's going on?" Declan asked, finally feeling safe enough to ask in the elevator.

"Emmy I'm scared. I wish Daddy was here." Jack said, picking up on Emily's nerves and the strange happenings after their great day at the zoo.

"I know Jack." Emily replied, speaking softly and running her fingers through Jack's baby soft sandy blonde hair. "I wish Daddy was her too." Then she turned to her other side to look at Declan. "I don't know what's going on Dec, but I promise we'll find out okay."

Declan solemnly nodded as he picked at the hem of his t-shirt.

The elevator stopped at the sixth floor and Emily turned to Jack and Declan. "Come on guys. Let's go get ahold of…" Emily trailed off as she saw the team all still in the bullpen.

"Emily, we were just about to call you." JJ said standing up she noticed the kids were with Emily. "You know I think Aunt Penelope might have some cookies in her office. How about we go find out?" JJ asked as made eye contact with Penelope.

Penelope nodded in response to JJ's glance. "You know what I do have cookies and snacks. You guys must be hungry after your big day at the zoo. Why don't we go find some snacks and you can tell me all about your big day?" Penelope said, looking down at Jack and taking his hand.

JJ took the stroller from Emily and followed Penelope, Jack, and Declan to Pen's office for snacks.

Emily turned from watching the kids go to Penelope's office with JJ and Penelope and then turned back to the rest of the team. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"Princess, you might want to sit down." Morgan suggested.

Emily shook her head. "I'm too worked up to sit down. Just spill."

Rossi nodded. "Doyle escaped from prison."

"What? How? What the hell… he was in maximum security. How does someone escape from maximum security?" Emily asked as she looked around at the team.

"With help." Elle replied.

Emily sank into the chair at her desk. "This really isn't helping my day. I went to drop Declan off and…" she began explaining the scene at Declan's house.

"So who was it that you thought you recognized?" Elle asked.

"Richard Gerace" Emily replied. "He and I crossed paths while I was the JTF."

"Do you think he and the people he was with could have helped with Doyle's escape?" Reid asked.

Emily shook her head. "Not after the nasty scar Doyle gave Gerace. But I am really worried about what it could mean that they were coming out of the house when we got there."

Rossi nodded. "Okay, we'll go check it out." He said nodding to Morgan, Reid, and Elle. "You stay here with JJ and Penelope and keep the kids distracted. We'll call you and let you know what we find."

Emily nodded and then watched as they headed out the double glass doors of the bullpen. Then she turned and walked down the hallway to join the kids, JJ, and Penelope in Penelope's lair.

As Emily was just about to the door, JJ came out, quietly closing the door behind her.

"Hey Em, I was just coming to find you. Are you okay? You know we're going to find him right?" JJ asked in concern at the troubled expression on Emily's face.

"No, I know we will… it's just this on top of…" Emily paused realizing that JJ wasn't up to speed. She glanced behind JJ, making sure the door to PG's lair was closed all the way. The she set about filling JJ in on what she'd found when dropping Declan off at home and explaining that the guys and Elle had gone to check things out.

JJ took a deep breath and let it out, "Well, that explains why you showed up here with the kids just as we were about to call you. Do you need to drop Jack off or have Haley come and pick him up?"

Emily shook her head. "No, Haley is out of town for a few days."

JJ nodded. "Okay, well the kids seem to be pretty tired and hungry."

Emily's shoulders sagged. "We were supposed to have dinner with Louise since Declan was spending the night there instead of at school."

"Okay, so we'll order pizza and figure out what to do from there." JJ replied comfortingly and wrapped her arm around Emily. "Let's go see what the pregnant lady wants on her pizza. Maybe we can figure out if the baby is a boy or a girl from her topping choices."

Emily laughed allowing her spirits to be brightened, if only temporarily, as she followed JJ into Penelope's office.

 

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JJ smiled as she watched Pen rub her belly while she talked with Avery about what she wanted for her second birthday which was just around the corner. Then she chuckled as she looked around at all of the kids' faces covered in pizza sauce.

"Really?" Penelope asked. "What color do you want the butterflies to be?" she asked

"Purpwe" Avery replied as she leaned back against Auntie Penelope and tipped her head back to be able to see her.

"Purple is your favorite color right now isn't it Avery?" Emily asked as she looked at Avery.

Avery nodded her head in agreement and then lifted her hand, her little fist rubbing at her eyes.

"Are you tired cutie?" Auntie Penelope asked as Avery leaned back against her.

"Oh little girl you are exhausted. Let's get you cleaned up so you can crash." Aunt Penelope said reaching for the wet wipes to clean the pizza sauce off of Avery's hands and face.

Then Emily's phone rang. Emily swallowed and pressed a kiss to the top of Seth's head. "Buddy can you go sit with Auntie JJ and finish your pizza?" she asked as she slid Seth's plate over in front of JJ and then stood up sitting Seth in JJ's lap as she stepped out of the conference room to answer her phone.

JJ gave Emily a reassuring nod, knowing how concerned she was. "Hey big guy you were pretty hungry huh?" JJ asked as Seth settled into her lap and he continued eating, getting as much pizza on his face as he did in his mouth.

"Ah?" Seth grunted as he turned and offered his fist full of pizza to JJ.

JJ smiled and kissed her nephews head. "Oh, no thank you buddy. It's nice of you to share, but you eat."

"Okay, we'll see you when you get back." Emily replied solemnly as she reentered the conference room. She subtly shook her head as Penelope and JJ both looked at her.

"It's bad isn't it?" Declan asked in a soft voice.

Emily closed her eyes for just a moment, fighting back the tears. Then she reopened them and looked at the boy who she'd risked so much for to give him a new life, one away from his father's. It pained her to know that it looked like his father's world had tracked him down anyway. "Yeah Dec, it's bad."

"How… how bad?" Declan asked.

Emily swallowed thickly. "Why don't we… um take a walk?" she asked, completely unsure how she was supposed to tell him that the only mother he'd ever known was dead.

JJ and Penelope both blinked back tears as they heard Declan's loud cry of "NO!" followed by sobbing.

"Why is Declan crying?" Jack asked innocently, concerned for his friend.

Penelope and JJ glanced quickly at each other, unsure what exactly to say. JJ however remembered another Jack, a different Jack whispering in her ear to ask her if George had hurt Mommy, if Mommy was okay, and where she was.

JJ swallowed. "Jack you know sometimes people get hurt right?"

Jack nodded.

"Well," JJ swallowed, hoping she was saying the right thing, "sometimes, if people get hurt really, really bad, it can't be fixed and they die."

"Like my pet frog?" Jack asked trying to understand even though luckily, this Jack had yet to have any firsthand experience with death at his young age other than his pet frog that had died over the summer.

JJ remembered Emily talking about how upset Jack had been at the death of his first pet. She nodded. "Yeah sweetie, like your frog. That's what happened to Declan's Mom."

Jack frowned, his brows furrowing just like his Daddy's. "Is Declan gonna be okay?"

Penelope rubbed his back since she was sitting next to him. "Yeah Jack, eventually he will, but for a while he'll probably be really sad and need a good friend like you."

At that moment Emily came back in the room and sat back down at the table, wiping her red rimmed eyes. "He cried himself to sleep. I stretched him out on the couch in Aaron's office."

Jack rubbed his eyes.

"You're pretty sleepy too I bet huh?" Emily asked as she stood up and knelt down next to Jack.

Jack nodded, rubbing his eyes again.

"Okay, well how about we get you set up on the couch in Daddy's office too?" Emily asked picking the exhausted five year-old up out of his chair.

"I don't think Jack and Declan are the only ones who are exhausted." JJ smiled as she glanced down at Seth who was sound asleep in her lap, sucking on his thumb as he curled up against her.

"No he's not. Little Miss Mini-Me is sound asleep too." Penelope said pointing out the sleeping little girl in her lap. "You know, I have a playpen is in my office. If we set it up in bossman's office, then the kids will be able to have some peace and quiet to sleep, but still be close by."

"Thanks PG. I'll just go lay Jack down. Then I'll go grab the playpen." Emily said as turned to walk out the door, with a sleeping Jack passed out on her shoulder.

 

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They no more than had the kids all down then the guys and Elle returned.

"We called the locals. They're processing the scene." Elle explained. "Are you okay? Is Declan okay?"

Emily shook her head. "No, but he will be… and me… I just want to get Doyle back behind bars and catch whoever it was that did this to Louise."

"Are we sure that Doyle escaping from prison and Louise being murdered aren't connected?" Rossi asked.

Emily shook her hand again. "No, they can't be. Doyle didn't know that Declan and Louise were alive. The last he knew, they were murdered in the corner of that warehouse in Boston. It's why he took me there back in March. He wanted his revenge where he thought his son died."

Reid nodded his head. "What if we used that to our advantage?"

"What are you thinking kid?" Morgan asked.

"Doyle doesn't know that Declan and Louise were alive. What if we planted a story with the local media to draw Doyle out?" Reid continued as he laid out a plan that should draw Doyle out with everything that they knew about him and his personality.

Emily nodded. "It could work. I need to go call Aaron and let him know what's happened."

"Take all the time you need." Rossi said with a nod and a comforting smile thrown in Emily's direction. "JJ, I know you aren't the media liaison anymore… but do you have someone in mind that would work best for the plan?"

JJ nodded, already dialing her phone. "I do. Give me about ten minutes." She said as she sat down at her desk.

The bullpen became a flurry of activity as the each readied to carry out the plan. Emily returned to the bullpen from calling Aaron just as JJ was getting off the phone.

"It's all set up. I just need to send them the copy that we want them to run with and they'll make sure it airs in the 10 o'clock news." JJ said turning in her chair to look at the team.

Rossi nodded. "Reid, work with JJ on the wording of the press release. Emily?" he asked as he looked up at Emily who was walking down the stairs from the catwalk.

"Aaron's on his way back now, but told us all to be safe and he'll see us soon." Emily explained.

"Good." Rossi replied with a nod. "So here's where we're at…."

 

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Ian Doyle sat at the bar drinking Irish Whisky and Guinness as he watched the news. As a newly escaped man, he was laying low at an Irish pub where he knew he could trust the owner. Everyone would be expecting him to be on the run right now, but he was staying close to DC. He had debts to settle.

"Ey, turn that up." Doyle gestured to the TV that was currently showing the news where they were showing a picture of a woman who'd been murdered in her home. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn that woman was an older version of Louise, his former house keeper and nanny.

The barkeep grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"It appears she was killed in a home invasion," The newscaster said, "but here's the most interesting piece of the story. We've discovered through our investigation that prior to seven years ago, Louise Thatcher didn't exist. We've searched through state records to find out who this woman was to see if we could uncover anything that might lead to why she would have been attacked so brutally in her own home. Surprisingly, we found nothing. No birth certificate, no driver's license, no documentation what-so-ever that predates seven years ago. In fact our search for answers has only uncovered more questions. We'll bring you more as this story unfolds."

"Emily, Emily, Emily," Ian whispered under his breath as he spun his empty pint glass in his hand. Then he stood and turned throwing the empty glass against the stone wall of the pub. "You'll regret the day you betrayed me and stole my son from me Emily Prentiss."

 

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The team sat in the surveillance vans with SWAT nearby as they waited outside Declan, Louise, and Tom's house in Reston to find out if Doyle's curiosity was going to get the better of him and he was going to make an appearance. They didn't have to wait long. As expected, Doyle had appeared, wanting to find out if the Louise on the news was his former housekeeper and nanny and if so, if that meant Declan was alive as well.

Doyle fought against the restraints as he was dragged down the hall to the interrogation room. "You can lock me up again, but I'll get out again. I have friends in high places." He sneered as he was pushed down in a seat and cuffed to the table.

"You might have friends in high places, but eventually we'll find out who they are. Associating with someone like you… well someone always talks eventually." Morgan replied as he stared down at Doyle with his arms crossed.

Then Emily opened the door and walked in the room. "Anything?"

Morgan shook his head. "Just the usual. You can't hold me. I have friends in high places… blah, blah, blah." Morgan said as he continued to stared down Doyle. "Nothin' we haven't heard before."

Doyle struggled against his bonds, becoming agitated at Emily's presence in the room. "You bitch! You stole my son from me. Seven years! Seven years I thought he was dead."

Emily braced her hands on the edge of the table getting in Doyle's face. "And I wonder Ian what your captors in North Korea would have done to him if they'd thought he was alive… if they'd thought hurting Declan would break you… if they thought threatening him would make you talk. You always talked about raising a warrior. Did you forget that he was a four year old defenseless little boy?" Emily glared at him, the weight of her gaze forcing Doyle back into his seat. "Why should a four old little boy have to pay for the sins of his father? You're right. I did fake his and Louise's deaths… but I didn't do it to spite or hurt you… you aren't worth that kind of effort. I did it to protect them, to give Declan a life free from who and what you are. He's been free from that life for the last seven years Ian… when he smiles it lights up a room because he's happy… at least he was until earlier tonight. What did you do Ian… who did you piss off enough that they'd find a way to come after him?"

Ian's head hung down. "Is he safe?" he asked as he looked back up. "The news didn't mention him… so he must be safe."

Emily stood back up and crossed her arms. "He's safe for now. But the only way we can keep him safe is if we find the people that killed Louise. Who hates you enough to go after Louise and Declan to get to you?"

"No one, at least no one that's lived to tell the tale. Nobody even knows he exists." Ian replied.

"Richard Gerace was there." Emily said. "I saw him come out of the house with two other people… a man and a woman. Think Ian! Declan's future depends on it."

"You know as well as I do that Gerace was always more your problem than mine. Sure I gave him the scar… but what you did to him… well I'm sure he holds much more of a grudge over that than any war wound I gave him." Ian said as shifted and leaned forward in his seat. "Let me see Declan. Let me see my son."

"That's not going to happen." Emily replied and turned on heel and walked out of the room, followed by Morgan.

 

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The team stood in the round table room trying to get fresh eye's on the case.

"Are we sure this isn't just about Gerace getting revenge on Doyle?" Rossi asked as he looked at the evidence board.

"No, Gerace gave up on Doyle a long time ago. Plus, knowing him like I do, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have the balls to attempt this." Emily replied.

Reid crossed his arms as he sat on the edge of the table. "Yesterday was a break from Louise and Declan's regular routine."

"Right, and your point Reid?" Elle asked as she looked at Reid.

"What if we go at this from the very beginning? What would a normal day look like for them Emily?" Reid asked.

"Well Declan normally stays at the boarding school. He comes home over breaks, special occasions, if he's not feeling well. Louise of course has her own normal routine, so she might have changed her plans around since we were planning on having dinner together." Emily explained.

"Okay, well let's get started on going through their regular routine. Maybe we can find something there. Baby girl?" Morgan asked as he looked at Penelope who was seated at the table, her fingers flying over the keys of her laptop.

"Already on it like cute on a baby, hotness." Penelope said without even glancing away from her screen. ""Okay, now this is interesting."

"What is it PG?" Emily asked, taking a seat next to Penelope at the table.

"Well, while you and the adorable quartet were at the zoo yesterday, a lot of the kids at Declan's school got sick. All at once." Penelope said her fingers continuing to fly over the keys. "Food poisoning… poor kids."

"Who were the kids?" Emily asked.

"Here" Penelope replied, pointing to her screen showing the list of kids who'd gone to the nurse's office at school the afternoon before.

Emily looked over the list. "These are all friends of Declan's… I think all of them are in the same dorm as him too."

"So it was targeted at Declan then?" JJ asked.

"It makes sense. They knew his routine. It's a boarding school and they don't have permission to pick Declan up from the school, so they have to get him away from the school to get access. They were counting on him getting sick and being at home with Louise." Reid said as he stood up to look at the evidence board.

Elle walked over to join Reid in looking at the evidence. "They were awfully angry that Declan wasn't there. Louise took quite a beating."

"What if the beating that she took was because of who she was?" Hotch asked from where he stood in the doorway.

The team all turned to look at him as he sat his duffle bag down inside the doorway.

"Nice beard man." Morgan said noting the full beard Hotch sported on his face.

JJ looked down and smirked as she watched Emily's face light up at the sight of Hotch as she walked across the room to greet him.

Emily's eyes took in the very much missed sight of her husband as she walked across the room towards him. She took in the sight of his beard, his cargo pants… and her girly side gave a feral growl. She'd have to make sure that once this was all wrapped up she had some time with him alone before he shaved that beard. Then she refocused. They needed to wrap up this… whatever the hell this was before that could happen. "Hi" she said as she entered his personal space and wrapped her arms around him for the first time in months. "God I missed you."

"I missed you too. Are the kids okay?" he whispered in her ear as their hug continued.

Emily nodded against his shoulder. "The kids are okay… well Declan's having a rough time right now, but he will be okay."

Aaron nodded and pulled back, brushing Emily's hair from her face and then leaned in to kiss her. "You have no idea how much I've been wanting to do that."

"Oh, I think I might." Emily replied with a grin. Then the solemnness returned as they let each other go, both remembering that they needed to solve this case to keep Declan safe. "So what were you saying about Louise being beaten because of who she was?"

"Whoever this was showed a lot of rage at Louise." Hotch said as he looked at the evidence board.

Emily tipped her head as she looked at Louise's picture. "She had been with Doyle since before Declan was born."

"Okay guys, look at this." Penelope interjected, getting everyone's attention. "I've got someone delivering cupcakes to the school yesterday afternoon not too long before all of the kids got sick." Penelope said as she put the footage up on the monitor. She'd started looking through the footage as soon as Reid mentioned that Declan had been the target.

"There, there," Emily said as they caught a brief glimpse of the woman's face. "Can you run that through facial recognition and see if you get a match?"

"I can try, but at that angle it will be hard to get a match and it could take a while. I'm sorry Em. I'll work as fast as I can." Penelope replied.

Emily walked behind Penelope and rested her hand on her shoulder. "It's okay PG. Can you get me a printout? We might have something faster than facial recognition software."

 

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Emily walked into the interrogation room where Doyle sat and slapped the photo of the mystery woman on the table. "Who is this?"

Doyle's eyes widened as he looked at the photo. "Chloe Donaghy."

"And she is?" Emily prompted.

"Declan's mother… although I use the term loosely. She never wanted him. She tried to kill him before he was even born." Doyle said as he began telling Emily the whole story behind Declan's birth.

"No wonder she hates you." Emily shook her head. "Did Louise help with Declan's birth?"

"Yes" Doyle replied.

Emily nodded. "Then that explains why she did this to Louise." She said as she laid the crime scene photo of Louise's battered body on the table in front of Doyle. "I need to know who her contacts are in the States and I need to know now." She said as she handed him a pen and a piece of paper.

"But why would she do this? She didn't want him then… why would she want him now?" Doyle asked as he stared down at the blank sheet of paper.

"To hurt you. What else would she and Gerace have to gain from taking Declan?" Emily asked.

Doyle continued to stare at the sheet of paper; then he lifted his head. "Money. It's the only thing she ever cared about."

 

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In the course of looking through Chloe Donaghy's connections, Penelope came across Lachlan McDermott. Doyle had murdered Jimmy McDermott in relation to a blood feud between the families. Lachlan owned an 'import' company that shipped internationally. He owned three warehouses in Inner Harbor Baltimore, one of which was slated to be demolished.

The team approached the warehouse with the lights off and waited as the SWAT team pulled up and blocked in what would appear to be their suspects' car. They moved quickly and quietly through the warehouse, clearing room after room. Then they reached the back of the warehouse, catching Donaghy, Gerace, and McDermott in surprise as they were surrounded.

Gerace made a move to reach for his gun.

"Uh uh uh Richard. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Rossi said. "You have a lot of guns pointed at you right now, so I'd keep them up if I were you."

Gerace lifted his hands back above his head and the SWAT team covered the three international criminals as the BAU team closed in and began to cuff their suspects and read them their rights.

 

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"I can't wait to get home and see the kids." JJ said as she wrapped her arm around Spence's waist in the elevator.

"Me either, although, this time of night, that's all we'll be able to do. I'm sure they're sound asleep." He replied as he wrapped his arm around JJ's shoulders.

"They look so peaceful and angelic while they sleep." JJ replied with a grin as they stepped off the elevator to find Penelope waiting for them. "I could watch our babies sleep for hours."

Morgan knew his baby girl was excited to tell the team about the baby, so as soon as he stepped of the elevator; he walked over to Penelope and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He cleared his throat to get the team's attention.

"Speaking of babies." Penelope said as she glanced up at Derek. "We wanted to let you know that the baby is a girl."

Morgan grinned as the team stepped forward to congratulate them all.

Rossi shook Morgan's hand. "I've got some cigars and single malt Scotch when you're ready to celebrate." Then he turned to Penelope. "I'm very happy for you kitten; I'm sure Jake is going to make a great big brother." He whispered in her ear as he gave her a kiss on each cheek.

The hugs and hand shaking continued all around. Finally Hotch got everyone's attention. "I don't know about all of you, but I am anxious to get home. Save the paperwork for tomorrow. Nobody has to be here until noon. We'll focus on getting this case squared away then, but for now, go home and spend some time with your families."

Emily turned and smiled up at Aaron as everyone went into the bullpen to gather their things before heading out. "Why Agent Hotchner, I do believe you've turned into a big softie." She teased.

Aaron grinned and shook his head. "No I just want to get home and see the kids…and spend some quality time with my wife."

At Aaron's comment about seeing the kids, a frown crossed Emily's face.

"What is it?" Aaron asked, settling his hand low on her back.

Emily took a deep breath. "It's just now that this is over… I have to call Tom and let him know what happened. We might have caught them, and have Doyle back in custody, but for Declan this is far from over."

Aaron nodded. "Let's get out of here and get home. You can call Tom while I unpack."

Emily nodded. "As long as you promise not to shave the beard until tomorrow morning."

"Really?" Aaron said turning to look down at Emily as they crossed the elevator lobby. He'd have thought that Emily would be of the same opinion as the kids. Not a fan.

"Oh yeah" Emily replied in a throaty voice. "Trust me… you can dress up and play soldier at home any time you like."

Aaron's eyebrows lifted and a large grin crossed his face as he followed his wife into the bullpen to gather their things.

 

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Hotch and Emily peeked in on Avery and Seth when they got home. A smile crossed his face when he thought of how excited they would be that Daddy was home in the morning. "We'll have to go see Jack in the morning so he doesn't feel left out."

Emily nodded. "I'll call Haley in the morning. I'm sure she'll be happy to help with the surprise."

"I'm going to go unpack and take a shower." Aaron said and then kissed her temple. "You know where I'll be if you need me."

Emily peeked into the guest room, glad to find that Declan was asleep. She stood watching for several minutes watching, wishing there was something she could do to make the next several weeks and months easier for him. Then she pulled the door most of the way closed and headed down the hall to her and Aaron's bedroom in order to call Tom, who at the moment had no idea of everything that had transpired in the last few days.

Tom sighed on the other end of the phone at the news of Louise's death. The first couple of years, he'd lived with the fear that Doyle's men or some nefarious governmental group would find Louise and Declan and that they'd have to pay for things that Doyle had done. As the years had gone by, that fear had faded, but now it had reached out of the past like a specter and Louise was dead. Luckily Declan was okay. God…Declan… the boy had no idea what it was like to have a normal family. "Emily, I'll be on the next plane out. I think we need to talk about a custody arrangement. You know I loved Declan like he's my own, but he deserves to be part of a family… he needs a mother. I still want to be part of his life… and if I can still see him as much as I did before, then I'd like for you and Aaron to raise him. You can give him the family that I can't."

"I… Tom… I…" Emily paused, overwhelmed with emotion at the thought. "Declan's been through a very traumatic experience… you know I love him, but we need to let him be a part of this decision. You can't just fill the missing piece with me and expect that he's going to be okay. You also need to think about how this will make him feel. Is it going to feel like you don't want him… like you're giving him away?"

Tom sighed again, the emotion of everything overwhelming him. "There's never any easy answers are there."

"Unfortunately, no." Emily replied. "I promise I'll think about what you said and you think about what I said. After Louise's funeral and things settle down, we'll talk with Declan and find out what he wants."

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Tom said as he hung up.

Emily sighed and scrubbed her hand over her face. Then she smiled as Aaron came out of the shower. "Hey, how was your shower?"

"Amazing." Aaron replied as he scrubbed the towel over his head and face, drying his hair and beard. "How did the call with Tom go?"

"I think he's a little broken up and might not be thinking clearly. He wants us to take Declan even though he's spent the last seven years raising Declan as his own." Emily replied.

Aaron nodded as sat down on their bed next to Emily. "And what about you?"

"I think we need to ask Declan what he wants." Emily said as she looked at Aaron.

"And we will… but that's not what I asked. What do you want to do?" Aaron asked, knowing all too well what Emily's answer would be.

"If it's what Declan wants and we can do it in a way that he doesn't feel like Tom is abandoning him or doesn't want him, then I would love for Declan to be a part of our family." Emily replied.

Aaron smiled. His wife had the biggest heart and the softest spot for children who'd lost everything. If she had her way they'd adopt every wayward child they came across in their line of work. He knew exactly how much it cost her that they hadn't been able to take in more than just Seth. "Okay." He nodded.

"Okay… just okay?" Emily asked as she looked at Aaron.

"Yeah, he's a good kid and he needs a family. But you're right it has to be his choice and it has to be in a way that he won't feel like he's losing Tom or being abandoned."

Emily gave a sigh of relief as she sank into Aaron's side. She reached up and ran her hand along his jaw. "Now about this beard." She murmured as she leaned up to kiss him.

 

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"You've got to be kidding me Jason." Hotch said as he looked at the forms in his hand.

"I wish I were Aaron, but apparently the events of a few days ago ruffled some feathers of the higher ups." Gideon replied as he stood leaning against the wall with his arms and feet crossed. "You know you and the team have my support. I wish there was something that the Director or I could do about this, but when a Senate hearing gets called, you know you have to appear."

Hotch nodded. "We might as well let everyone know now, at least they'll get to enjoy some time with their families while we prepare for this side show."

"There is that." Gideon replied as he followed Hotch out of his office and down the catwalk.

"My team in the round table room." Hotch called out.

JJ, Reid, Morgan, Penelope, Elle, Emily, and Rossi all broke from discussing baby girl names to head up the stairs of the mezzanine and into the round table room.

 

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Needless to say the team had all been less than pleased about being suspended and having to wait two weeks for the hearing. They re-captured Doyle. They'd also apprehended three other international criminals and put them in federal custody as well. That was supposed to be considered a good day's work in their books.

Two weeks of down time had allowed them time to square away some personal things. Louise's funeral came and went. Aaron, Emily, Tom, and Declan sat down together and discussed where Declan would live now. Declan had been excited to become a part of the Hotchner's family, especially with Tom still being as involved as he always had.

JJ and Spence enjoyed their down time. It allowed them to be present for Chloe's first day of pre-school. At three years old, soon to be four, she was attending one day a week. Henry had been excited to have Daddy and Mommy home to play with for almost two whole weeks, and Joshua of course, as a happy healthy six month old was always happy to spend time with Mommy and Daddy. Seeing as Rebecca was starting her senior year of college, she was glad to have the extra time to adjust to the increased stress level.

Derek and Penelope spent time with two year old Jake and planned out the nursery for baby girl Morgan. It was sure to be a baby pink princess paradise.

Will enjoyed having Elle at home and them spending time with Billy. He'd come to accept how important Elle's work was to her over the years, and would never begrudge it to her. He'd learned to enjoy the family times they did have together as much as possible.

Rossi would have liked to have spent time with his wife, but with Doyle back behind bars again, the case she was working on to find out who had been helping Doyle when he originally escaped from Kwan-Li-So and began his rampage of revenge.

Erin Strauss-Rossi sat huddled with the task force she was leading and looked over all of the evidence they'd worked to accumulate over the last six months, ever since Aaron Hotchner had the BAU swept for listening devices during the course of the original Doyle case. What started off as some listening devices, had developed into what was sure to be one of the largest indictments of government employees that she'd ever seen.

 

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Well-manicured hands flipped through a folder looking over notes, photos, and evidence. Then they picked up the phone. "Make it happen. He's of no use to us now and clearly he can't be controlled. While you're at it you might as well take out Donaghy, Gerace, and McDermott. Make it look like an accident. I want to be done with this whole sordid affair. Getting into business with Doyle was a mistake in the first place." He nodded as he listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. "Good see that it's handled immediately."

 

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JJ paced anxiously up and down the hallway of the US Capitol building. For some reason the Congress members involved in the hearing had requested to speak with her first.

Spence grabbed JJ's hand as she walked by him for the twelfth time. "Hey, it's going to be okay."

"Spence this is serious. What if they break up the team?" JJ asked as she looked up at Spence.

"Well then I guess we'll figure it out when and if that happens, but there's no sense worrying over something that hasn't happened yet. Aren't you the one who used to tell me that?" Spence asked as he looked down into his wife's worry filled blue eyes. "All we can do is answer their questions."

JJ took a deep breath. "Thanks. I love you."

"I love you too… and it looks like you're on." He said squeezing her hand as the doors opened and her name was called.

She squeezed his hand back before letting go and being led into the chambers.

 

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JJ placed her hand on the Bible and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help her God and then was seated at the table facing the Congressional Committee. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves and then focused.

"Good morning Agent Jareau." Mr. Cramer said as he looked down at her from his perch on the panel. "If you don't mind, now that you've been sworn in we're going to jump right in."

"Of course, sir." JJ replied.

Mr. Cramer nodded. "And how long have you been back with the Bureau?"

"Four months sir." JJ replied.

"A lot has happened since then. I see there've been some transfers and loans of Agents to other Agencies. You had sixteen cases in that time." Mr. Cramer stated as he looked down at his notes.

"Nineteen, sir." JJ corrected.

"Ah, yes, in sixteen weeks." The Senator said as he leaned back in his chair. "That's impressive."

"Thank you." JJ nodded.

"But what's more impressive is the fact that you were reinstated, promoted, and suspended in that short time. I believe that's a record Agent Jareau." Mr. Cramer said as he leaned forward in his seat.

 

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"Why aren't we in there?" Reid asked as he stood out in the hallway with the rest of the team.

"There just trying to intimidate us." Rossi replied.

"Well that's not about to happen." Morgan said as he stood with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his gray suit pants.

"I'm not okay with this." Penelope replied.

"You may not even be a witness." Rossi explained.

"I'm not worried about me…" Penelope trailed off for a moment as she glanced around at the team. "Don't they have anything better to do than…"

"Baby girl, this is just what they do." Morgan replied.

The team all turned to look at Erin Strauss-Rossi and what appeared to be her entire task force showed their badges and what appeared to be a warrant to the guard manning his post at the entrance to the hallway in front of the chambers.

Erin tossed a small smile at the team just before she and her task force opened the doors of the chambers and interrupted the hearing in progress.

JJ turned in shock at the sound of the doors opening behind her. To her great surprise it was Erin Strauss-Rossi and her task force. She turned back in her seat to face the panel as the committee chairman's voice boomed through the chambers.

"What is the meaning of this? This is a closed hearing." Mr. Cramer asked.

"I'm sure that it is; however, you Senator Cramer will no longer be participating." Erin said as the agents behind her spread out to cover the room and both of the exits. Erin continued her approach to the bench behind which the panel sat. Two agents approached either end of the bench and moved behind it. "Senator Cramer, you are hear by under arrest for aiding and abetting a known terrorist, money laundering, fraud, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder."

The eyes of the other members of the Congressional Committee widened as the list of charges against Senator Cramer were read, he was handcuffed, and he was lead out of chambers.

Senator Tomlinson, seated to the right of Senator Cramer's former seat picked up the gavel and called a brief recess. "Agent Jareau, I remind you, you will remain under oath, but are free to leave chambers during the recess."

"Yes sir, of course sir." JJ replied, anxious to find out what the hell had just happened.

JJ stepped out into the hall as the members of the Congressional Committee slipped into a meeting room to discuss what had just happened.

"Erin," JJ asked as she joined the team and Erin in the hallway, "what just happened."

Erin smiled at JJ. "It turns out Senator Cramer was one of many drawn in to Doyle's web. He appears to have been the friend in high places that Doyle spoke of. Unfortunately for Doyle, Gerace, Donaghy, and McDermott, Senator Cramer decided to terminate their friendship. All four died sometime during the overnight hours and were discovered in their cells this morning, all dead by various means. It's taken months to unravel the layers of people and protection that the Senator placed between himself and Doyle. We've had a wiretap on his phones and access to his emails for weeks now. We have him ordering an associate to take care of Doyle and the others on tape. It looks like the Senator will be in the hot seat and answering some difficult questions himself now."

"Well that answers a lot of questions about how Doyle was able to do a lot of what he was able to do and to access." Emily mused. "But what does this mean for the Congressional Committee."

JJ tipped her head to the side. "I don't know. To honest they all looked pretty shaken up about Senator Cramer being arrested. They called for a recess, but I have no idea what that could mean."

"I have to be going. There's a mountain of paperwork waiting to be signed off on and filed." Erin said. "But I'll see you all later."

As the team was watching their former nemesis walk off, they were called in before the committee.

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" Emily whispered to Aaron as they walked down the aisle to be seated at the witness table.

"I'm not sure what to make of it. Dave?" Hotch asked.

"I have no idea," Dave replied, "but I suspect we won't have to wait long to find out."

Mr. Tomlinson now sat in the center seat of the panel. "We've looked over the file that originally drove this investigative panel to be called at the request of Senator Cramer. While there are some irregularities in the way the case was handled in that a task force wasn't set up and the proper jurisdictions were not respected in regards to federal agencies and local authorities, it is this committee's opinion that time was of the essence in order to apprehend the four international criminals with terrorist connections."

Senator Tomlinson looked to his fellow Senators and Congressmen and then back at the team as he continued. "The ends however do not justify the means as you are all well aware. The DIOG has rules and they need to be followed for a reason. Consider this your first and only warning that this committee will not accept a rogue team operating within the FBI and with the use of government funds."

"This committee is also willing to recognize, however," Mr. Tomlinson continued, "that this particular investigative hearing may likely have been started as a means to cover illegal activities on the part of Senator Cramer. As such, we are ending this hearing and you are all reinstated and dismissed." He said as he banged the gavel.


	19. Chapter 19

The BAU clan was all gathered in the backyard of the Hotchners' new home celebrating Avery Grace Hotchner's second birthday. Lunch and birthday cake had been eaten. Birthday presents had been opened and now being the warm early fall day that it was, the kids were running and playing while they enjoyed being outdoors.

The adults congregated nearby, laughing, talking, and enjoying the released stress of the Congressional hearing being over with as discussing the shock of who Doyle's inside man had been.

Suddenly a blur of an unclothed flesh ran across the yard and headed straight for Emily.

"Avery Grace Hotchner, where are your clothes?" Emily asked as she stood up attempting to catch the birthday girl who'd decided that it would be fun to run around the backyard in her birthday suit. Emily and Aaron shared a look of mortification at what Avery had decided to do today.

Chloe stood up from where she and Jack were playing together nearby and skipped over to JJ, turning to look at Avery being chased around the yard by Aunt Emily and then turning back to look at Mommy with big eyes and her mouth in the shape of an 'O'. "Mommy, why don't Avery gots no clothes on?"

JJ, Spence, and all of the other adults set about distracting and entertaining the other kids so that Emily and Hotch could have a private moment to take care of the little situation that had popped up.

Hotch jumped up from his chair and joined his wife in catching their daughter.

Once Avery was captured in Mommy's arms, he went over to where Avery had been playing and collected her clothes.

Hotch sat down in the chair next to Emily's with Avery's clothes in his lap as he helped Emily fight their daughter's iron will to redress her. "She is soooo your daughter." He said as worked Avery's t-shirt back over her head.

Sean laughed at his brother's comment and decided to take advantage of a rare opportunity. "Don't worry Emily. I heard all kinds of stories about from Mom about Aaron when he was growing up. He was a streaker when he was Avery's age too. I think I even have some photos of him naked as a jay bird running through our yard." The younger brother crowed with much glee to his older brother dismay and horror.

Emily raised an eyebrow at her husband. "Whose daughter is she?"

"Our daughter." Aaron replied meekly, feeling the flame of embarrassment stretch across his face at his brother sharing family stories from his very young childhood.

"Keep your clothes on Avery Grace, or you will have to go sit in the time out chair, birthday or no birthday. Okay?" Emily said biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing and encouraging Avery to streak again.

Avery gave a much put upon sigh. "Otay. I pway now?"

Emily nodded and kissed the top of Avery ebony locked head. "Yes you can go play now."

Emily watched for a moment as Avery ran off to play with the other kids a few feet away in the yard, and then she turned to look next to her where Aaron sat brooding. She stood up from her seat and wrapped her arms around her disgraced husband's shoulders and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Don't worry, if you're a good boy I'll streak for you later." She said and then tugged on his earlobe with her teeth, causing exactly the reaction she wanted when he laughed.

 

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"So how's Declan settling in?" Elle asked as she, JJ, and Emily headed out of Penelope's office.

Emily nodded. "He's doing well. I just worry about him though. The only mother he's ever known died."

JJ nodded. "Is he talking about it?"

"He's talking to the therapist and Aaron, Tom, and I sat down with him and made sure that he knows he can always talk to any of us. I think it will be good for Declan having two father figures."

"Not to mention a kick-ass Mom… literally." Elle said tossing a grin Emily's way.

Emily smiled and shook her head. "So you finished the course?" she asked as she looked at JJ, changing the subject.

"Mm hm and completed my case rotation." JJ replied as the rounded the corner and headed for the elevator lobby.

"Aaron says he's never seen a rookie profiler analyze and write up cases as well as you." Emily said with a smile as she turned to look at JJ.

"He said that?" JJ asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Well after all the cases you've presented over the years, I'm not surprised." Emily explained.

"That and years of being married to a profiler probably haven't helped either." Elle teased, "And speak of the devil." Elle said as the entered the elevator lobby and saw Spence getting off of an elevator.

"Heeeey how's your Mom?" JJ asked as she walked over to her husband's side.

"I think she's going to be okay." He replied as he looked down at JJ and then back up at Emily and Elle. "Dr. Norman wanted to talk to me about adjusting her medication. He's ready to see if adding a relatively newly FDA approved drug called Latuda to Mom's regimen will help her. The drug was approved by the FDA in November of last year and I brought it up to Dr. Norman then, but he advised we wait and see the results of some case studies before adjusting Mom's meds." Spence explained for Elle and Emily's benefit since JJ already knew all of the details.

"Does he think it will help?" Emily asked, aware of how much her friends longed for anything that would help his mother.

"He thinks it might and that everything he's read and seen has been promising enough for the risk of adjusting Mom's medications." Spence replied as he fell in step with JJ, Elle, and Emily and they walked into the bullpen together.

 

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"Okay, you can be honest. I can take it." Five month pregnant Penelope said as she walked down the hall with David Rossi.

"Okay," Rossi said as he handed Penelope's Tupperware container back to her. "I prefer my pasta al dente and the pancetta was a little weird."

"Oh," Penelope's mouth opened wide, "that's cause it's tofu." She said as she turned to look at Rossi.

"Tofu! I give you my recipe and you do an improve?" Rossi asked as they headed for the round table room.

"No, no, I followed it down to the micron aside from the pig." Penelope replied. "Look master of all things Italian, I'm having some of the ladies from my Lamaze group over for a Fellini festival this weekend and I must serve the beautiful food of his country." She said as she rounded the table, taking the seat facing away from the monitor.

Elle smirked as she turned to look at Derek. "Does several pregnant women being at your house this weekend have anything to do with why you volunteered to help Will build our new deck this weekend?"

Morgan nodded sheepishly and glanced up find all of the women on the team, including his wife smirking at him. Needless to say, Morgan was incredibly glad that Hotch walked in at that moment to start their briefing.

"Alright everybody, let's get started." Hotch said as he took his seat.

Penelope turned to look at JJ whom the remote for the monitor was sitting in front of.

"Oh" JJ said as she realized why Pen was looking at her, and slid the remote over to Pen.

"Alright, mes amies," Penelope said as she stood up from her seat and walked over to stand next to the monitor, "you are jetting to Durant Oklahoma…" she said as she began to walk the team through the case.

 

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"Victimology is very similar," Hotch said as the team went over the case on the jet, "blonde haired blue eyed teenage girls."

"We believe they were each abducted near public transportation stops." JJ said from her spot next to Spence on the couch.

"When was this photo taken?" Emily asked as she held up an eight by eleven photo of the second victim.

"Beth was caught on a bank surveillance camera three hours before she disappeared, that's a recent photo of Abby." Morgan replied.

"So, she wasn't found in the same clothes she was abducted in." Emily said as she held up the bank surveillance camera photo and the crime scene photo of Beth.

"Maybe he changed them because hers were burned by the sulfuric acid." Rossi suggested.

"It's possible." Reid replied. "Sulfuric acid can turn human flesh into soap."

"Penelope, any recent similar cases in the surrounding area?" Hotch asked, directing his question to the lap top that was open on the table.

"Actually yes, two months ago, a prostitute and a runaway were both found raped and killed and they had stab wounds to their eyes." Penelope replied as her fingers typed away at her keyboard.

"So maybe he practiced on high risk victims first." JJ said as she looked around at the team.

"And then advanced to chemical enucleation." Moran added as he looked down at the photos of the victims.

"Isn't that a rare paraphilia?" JJ asked as she looked around at the team.

Elle nodded. "It is, but we also need to keep in mind that this might not be a sign of a paraphilia. It's possible this is something that he'd like to do to someone else. He has a pretty specific victim type."

"Or he could just like blonde haired blue eye girls." Spence mused as he flipped through the photos.

Elle chuckled. "Or he could just like blonde haired blue eyed girls. It has been known to happen," She said teasing Reid briefly, "but I'd lean more towards them representing the object of his anger given the closeness in age and appearance of them all."

Emily nodded in agreement. "JJ's right though, if this is a paraphilia, then the chemical part is very rare. It would exacerbate the pain."

Hotch nodded. "Dave, you and I will talk to the parents. Morgan, Emily, and Elle, go to the disposal sites. JJ, you and Reid go to the abduction sites."

 

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JJ sank down in the seat next to Spence's on the jet. "Do you think Tammy is going to be okay?"

"She's going to need a lot of therapy after what her uncle put her through, but hopefully." Elle replied.

"It will take time, but hopefully she'll find something to help her move on and get past it." Morgan added reflecting for the briefest of moments on his tortured past as he pulled the cans of his headphones over his head, letting the headphones rest around his neck while the team talked.

Rossi hung up his phone as he sat down to join the team. "I've been instructed to invite you all over for brunch this weekend. Erin knows how hard last week was on all of us so she thought it would nice to get together."

"Since when do you do brunch?" Hotch asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"A man has to eat Aaron." Dave replied.

"Even if it is mini quiches." Morgan replied with a grin.

Rossi scowled at Morgan. "Just for that I'm recruiting you to help with the cooking Morgan. In fact you and Penelope can both help since she was so eager for cooking pointers." Rossi grinned. "Don't worry; I'm sure Jake will enjoy hanging out with Tim. I'll even let you sleep in. Be at my place by eight am sharp."

"Ah man… so much for sleeping in." Morgan grumbled, knowing the moment that he mentioned it to Penelope they would be at Rossi's house just before eight am.

 

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"Hi Unca Dabe!" Jake screech excitedly as Rossi answered the door.

"Hey short stuff!" Dave replied taking Jake out of Morgan's arms as the Morgans stood on his front steps at quarter to eight on a Saturday morning. "Tim is really excited to see you. I think he mentioned something about playing with trains." Dave whispered conspiratorially to the two year old.

"I wikes twains." Jake said bobbing his head eagerly as he glanced back and forth between Uncle Dave and Tim, who had just come into the entry way.

Dave no more than set Jake on his feet than the small boy scurried over to Tim and took his hand as they went off into the living room to play together. Over the last few years, Tim had grown accustomed to being around babies and toddlers, but that didn't mean that he wasn't glad that there was now someone close to his own age in the group of kids of his Dad's work friends. The few times he'd met him Declan had seemed like a pretty cool guy even if he was a couple years younger.

Dave, Derek, and Penelope smiled as the watched Tim lead Jake into the living room where he'd pulled out a variety of trains, remote control cars, and other gadgets and gizmos to keep the younger guests entertained today. Then Dave turned to Penelope, "Alright kitten, I believe you are due for a cooking lesson."

"I can scramble eggs with the best of them my fine Italian friend." Penelope responded.

Dave nodded. "Scrambled eggs are good, but how are you at making Quiche Lorraine, crab cakes, cheesy hash browns, crepes, fruit tarts, and cinnamon rolls, ?" he asked as he led the couple into the kitchen.

"Um I can do the cheesy hash browns… and maybe the cinnamon rolls…" Penelope trailed off as they entered the kitchen.

Dave laughed. "Don't worry kitten. You and our little helper," he said with a nod of his head towards Morgan, "are going to have an opportunity to help with everything. How else will you learn?" he asked with a twinkly in his eye.

Erin shook her head as her husband entered the kitchen followed by Derek and Penelope. She held out a cup of coffee towards Derek. "You look like you could use this."

"Thank you." Derek replied gratefully as he took the cup, pausing to inhale the heavenly aroma before taking a large sip of the dark brew.

Erin smiled. "You're welcome. Penelope, dear, would you like some orange juice?" she asked the pregnant younger woman.

"Oh yes please." Penelope answered distractedly as her eyes scanned the counter top of ingredients and utensils, eagerly anticipating learning how to cook via the Dave Rossi method.

 

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"Rossi, it smells amazing." Emily said as she entered the Rossi mansion followed by Aaron, Declan, and Jack. She was carried Seth and Aaron carried Avery.

"Ah, well we have Derek's cinnamon rolls to thank for that I think." Dave replied as he kissed Emily on either cheek and took Seth from her, lifting the one year old up over his head and smiling when the dark haired little one giggled. Dave laughed in turn as he settled Seth on his hip. "Hey Declan, Tim and Jake are in the living room if you and Jack want to join them."

Declan glanced up at Emily, silently seeking approval.

Emily reached out and smoothed down his tussled blonde hair. "Go ahead and have fun."

Aaron smiled as he watched Declan and Jack scurry off to join the other boys in the living room. Avery was having a clingy day and refused to leave Daddy's arms. Seth was perched happily on Uncle Dave's hip as they headed to the kitchen.

A short while later the entire team and their families were gathered around the large Rossi family dining room table. It was quite the gathering between the eight team members, two spouses who weren't part of the team, a teenager, a pre-teen, a little boy, a preschooler, four toddlers, and a baby.

Dave smiled as he looked around the table and cleared his throat as he lifted his glass to make a toast. "Jim Butcher said 'When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching – they are your family.'" He said as he glanced about at the team who had been through hell and back over the last year with JJ leaving the team, the Doyle situation, and the Congressional hearing. "To family." He said raising his glass.

"To family." The rest of the BAU family chorused with smiles as they too raised their glasses to join in the toast.


	20. Chapter 20

Gideon stood up from where he was leaning against the railing of the catwalk watching the team as they all tried to cope with this latest case. Some of the most tragic cases weren't the ones where a twisted sick individual hunted down their prey, but the ones like this that but for a simple twist of fate would never have happened. If it hadn't been for Luke Dolan's car accident on Friday night, he wouldn't have killed his best friend, his parents, and an entire office of innocent people. As Publilius Syrus once said, the eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.

He walked down the catwalk and down the stairs into the bullpen. "Pack it up people. Go home and spend time with your families. Today was a perfect example of why we should treasure every moment that we can get with our loved ones. We never know when the last moment will come and we never know how they will be taken from us or us from them, but we do know that it will happen someday." He said as he walked down the aisle where his alpha team sat, struggling with the paperwork for Luke Dolan's case, each of them silently wondering what if it had been them. What would it be like to look at the people you loved and to not recognize them?

Morgan tossed his pen down on top of his file as he realized the futility of trying to finish his paperwork now when all he wanted to do was go home and spend time with his pregnant wife and son. He picked up his phone and dialed Penelope's extension. "Baby girl, let's pick up Jake and go home." He said before she could offer a witty greeting.

"Music to my ears chocolate thunder." Penelope replied. "Meet you at the elevators in five?"

"Sure baby girl." Morgan said and then hung up his phone, gathered his keys, his jacket, and his cell phone.

"I'm with Morgan." Elle commented, picking up her phone to call Will.

Emily turned to look over her shoulder at Aaron's office and then looked conspiratorially at JJ. "What do you think my odds are on getting Aaron to call it a day and leave now?"

JJ glanced from Emily to Hotch's office and back. "If he feels anything like the rest of us about this case, and I'm sure he does, then I'm sure your chances are pretty good."

Emily nodded and stood up heading for her husband's office.

JJ stood up from her desk on the far side of Emily's and walked around, sitting on the edge of Spence's desk. "How about you? Ready to go home baby?"

"Yeah" Spence nodded. "Because as much as I try right now, I just can't get the image of Ally Dolan screaming for her Daddy and trying to get through those doors to him out of my mind." Spence said as he nodded across the room at the double glass doors of the BAU and then turned to look at JJ.

"I know Spence. Me too. Let's get out of here and go hear about Chloe, Henry, and Joshua's adventures today. Spending a quiet night in as a family is probably just what we need." She said as reached out and rubbed her hand up and down her husband's upper arm.

"A quiet night in sounds terrific." Spence replied as he stood up from his desk and stretched.

JJ nodded and stood up from Spence's desk. "Okay, I can be ready to go in just a few minutes."

Spence nodded and began stuffing items into his tan leather messenger bag as JJ slipped away to her own desk to pack up for the day.

 

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Not fifteen minutes later, the team walked through the lobby of the building and out to the parking structure, intent on getting home to spend time with their families.

Hopefully after a case like this, luck would be on their side and the rest of the week would involve catching up on paperwork, case files, and of course finalizing the plans for this weekend, JJ thought as they all headed out into the fresh chill of the October air.

"Hey wait a minute pretty boy." Morgan said as he walked over to Reids as they were about to get into their car. He pulled out Reid's winning from the basketball pool out of his pocket and held them out to Reid. "I'm on to you kid and I know what you did. Consider yourself out of the pool." Morgan said as he slapped the wad of cash into Reid's hand.

Reid smiled as he looked down at the thick stack of cash in his hand and then glanced up at the less than happy Morgan walking away from him and chuckled. 'When would they stop underestimating him' he wondered and then turned and climbed in to the driver's seat of the car.

"What did Morgan want baby?" JJ asked, turning to look at Spence as he buckled his seat belt.

"He just wanted to give me my winnings from the basketball pool for this week," Spence said as he handed the cash to JJ, "And to let me know that I was kicked out of the pool."

JJ flipped through the stack of bills and whistled. "Did you win this much last week and the week before?" she asked as she counted the few hundred dollars and change.

Spence nodded. "The fact that I won the last few weeks isn't why he kicked me out though."

"Really? I'd say winning three weeks in a row is pretty lucky." JJ replied as she folded the cash in half and stuck it in one of the cup holders in the console so Spence could put it in his wallet when they got home.

"Not if it wasn't luck." Spence said with a grin as he glanced at JJ while backing out of their parking space.

"Well if it wasn't luck, then what was it?" JJ asked as she turned to look at Spence.

"I was able to break down all of the teams' shooting strategies and easily determine based statistics and probability which team would be the likely winner of each game." Spence replied.

"How did you have time to figure all of that out?" JJ asked with a confused look on her face. Being married to the man, she would have noticed if he'd spent an inordinate amount of time watching basketball.

"It was easy. I already had my system set up from my days back in high school and college. I just read the sports page each week and watched the results on ESPN in order to make my picks for the next week's games."

"Wait, you did this during high school and college?" JJ asked.

Spence nodded. "My social standing increased when I started winning too."

"Wait you played basketball baby?" JJ said her jaw dropping at the thought of her husband on a basketball court.

Spence shook his head. "No, no, I didn't play. I coached."

"Oh" JJ grinned. "Then I can see why Morgan kicked you out of the pool. I have to tell you though baby, I like that even after seven years I'm still learning new things about you." JJ said as she leaned across the console and kissed Spence on the cheek.


	21. Chapter 21

JJ smiled as she rolled over in Spence's arms to see him still asleep. After months of troubled sleep, she was glad to see him sleeping peacefully. She gently peeled his hand from her waist as she kissed him on the forehead. Once free from his warm grasp, she slipped out of bed, grabbing the baby monitor as she slipped across the hall to check on Joshua.

The seven month old baby boy was just starting to stir when Mommy leaned over the edge of his crib to check on him. He gave a drool filled toothy grin to Mommy showing off his teeth, one on the top; one on the bottom, surrounded by gums. He kicked his feet happily as Mommy picked him up.

"Good morning baby boy." JJ said cuddling Joshua to her chest as she moved to the changing table in his nursery. "How about we change your diaper and go see if Chloe and Henry are awake?" she cooed to Joshua as she undid his footie pajamas and pulled his legs out.

Joshua's little face screwed up in displeasure as the cooler air hit his tummy and little legs.

"I know baby boy. Let's get you changed and then we can get you back in your pjs for a little bit until it's time to get dressed." JJ said as she bent over and blew a raspberry on Joshua's tummy, causing the baby boy to laugh.

 

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Spence groaned into the pillow as he woke up and patted the empty spot beside him on the bed, looking for his wife, but not finding her. He was confused for just a moment until he heard JJ whispering to Chloe, Henry, and Joshua out in the hall and grinned into his pillow facing away from the door so that he wouldn't ruin the surprise they apparently had planned for him.

He listened with his eyes closed as Chloe and Henry followed JJ and Joshua into the room. He heard JJ set something down on the nightstand. Based on the delightful smell, he assumed it was breakfast. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as first Chloe and then Henry both whispered 'Now Mommy?'

"Ssshhh just a minute more." JJ whispered.

He felt one 35 pound weight drop on the bed next to him followed by a 30 pound weight. Then he felt the bed sink next to him. It would appear that Chloe, Henry, JJ, and Joshua were about to wake him up.

"Okay guys, go ahead and wake Daddy up." JJ said with a smile, holding Joshua in her lap, waiting for Spence to be awake before she un-leased their third baby on him.

Chloe and Henry bounced on their knees on the bed next to Daddy. "Wake up Daddy!" Chloe cheered.

"Happy birfay Daddy!" Henry chorused, remembering what Mommy had said about today being Daddy's birthday.

Spence rolled onto his back and made a production of stretching his arms over his head. "Good morning guys." He said as he wrapped his arms around Chloe and Henry. "What are you guys doing up so early?"

"It's your birthday!" Chloe said, giggling as Daddy squeezed her.

"It is?" Spence said as he winked at JJ. "Hmm I must have forgotten. Are you sure?"

"Uh huh" Henry nodded. "Mommy tay so."

Spence laughed. "Well if Mommy says it's my birthday then it must be true." He said as he smiled at JJ.

JJ smiled watching Chloe and Henry wish Daddy a happy birthday. "Go see Daddy baby boy." she whispered in Joshua's ear as she leaned down and sat him on the bed so that he could crawl to Daddy.

"Eeeeeeeee" Joshua screeched happily and then lurched forward crawling to Daddy, up to Daddy's belly.

Spence picked Joshua up and lifted him up over head for just a minute and then brought him down so that they were nose to nose. "What are you doing this morning little guy? Huh?"

Joshua squealed with delight and kicked his legs in the air, his hands patting Daddy on the face.

Spence lowered Joshua to sit on his belly and then JJ leaned forward. "Happy birthday baby." JJ whispered softly as she leaned down and gave Spence a quick peck on the lips. "Okay, who's ready for breakfast?"

"Me!" Chloe and Henry chorused together causing JJ and Spence to laugh.

"Me too." Spence replied.

"We helped." Chloe said proudly as Mommy picked up Joshua from Daddy's lap and then picked up the tray from the nightstand putting that in Daddy's lap.

"You did?" Spence asked.

Chloe and Henry both nodded eagerly. "Uh huh" they replied in unison, their little blond head's bobbing in time with each other.

Spence took a big bite. "Mm fis is fa best." He said around a big bite of pancakes as he chewed and swallowed causing Chloe and Henry to both smile proudly. "You know this is an awful lot of pancakes and bacon. You guys are going to help me eat all of this right?"

"Uh huh" Henry nodded. "Mommy tay today 'pecial and we tan eat wifs you in bed!" he said excited at the prospect.

"Huh, look at that. Extra plates and everything. Mommy thought of everything huh?" Spence said, winking at JJ as he pulled extra plates out from underneath the plate piled high with pancakes and bacon. He put a pancake and a couple of pieces of bacon on plates for Chloe and Henry and cut their pancake up for them. Then he put a little bit of syrup on the plate for them to dip their pancakes into. "Okay, you guys use the trays as a table here and…"

"What about Mommy?" Chloe asked.

"Tell you what," JJ said as she handed Joshua to Spence, "Daddy and I will share. How about that?"

"Okay." Chloe nodded happy that the logistics of a family breakfast in bed had been worked out.

JJ smiled and broke off a bite of pancakes and held it out to Spence who was momentarily confused as he grabbed a spoon and a jar of baby food, opening it to feed Josh. Then he grinned and opened his mouth for JJ to feed him. It wasn't exactly like being fed birthday cake in bed in years past… but it also wasn't an unpleasant way to start his birthday completely surrounded by wife and children.

 

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Spence could hear JJ whispering to the kids as he came down the stairs from getting dressed and paused to watch his wife with their two oldest, their three blonde heads bent together while JJ whispered to them and then looked up and smiled at him. "Go on go ask Daddy." JJ said nudging Chloe and Henry towards him as she smiled at him.

"Daddy can we go to the park?" Chloe asked as she looked up at Daddy who was towering above her.

"You guys want to go to the park?" Spence asked as he sat down on the steps and pulled Chloe and Henry close.

"Uh huh" Henry nodded. "Mommy tay it you birfday so we gotsa ask you."

"She did, did she?" Spence asked as he looked at JJ who was seated on the couch with Joshua.

JJ bit her lip and nodded. She knew there was no way Spence was going to say no to taking the kids to the park, which fit in perfectly with her plans. While they were out with the kids, all of their friends and family would be descending on the house to prepare for Spence's surprise party. After all, you only turned 30 once.

 

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It was a lovely fall morning to spend in the park, but JJ could tell the kids were getting hungry as she glanced at her watch. She hoped she'd given everyone enough time to get everything set up. "Are you guys hungry?"

"Yeah!" Chloe and Henry chorused as Daddy pushed them on the swings.

JJ smiled from where she stood in front of Josh pushing him in the baby swing to look at Spence who was facing her, standing behind Chloe and Henry, pushing them on the swings. "Well, what do you say we see if Daddy will grill out for us when we get home?" she asked with a smile at Spence.

Spence shook his head fervently. JJ just blew him a kiss. She knew he wouldn't need to grill out when they got home, but she did need him to open the garage door.

 

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"You really want to grill out?" Spence asked as he pushed Chloe and Henry's stroller up the driveway. "Maybe we could just order pizza instead."

"Nope we just had pizza a few days ago baby." JJ replied with a smile on her face. "Just get out the grill and get it started. "We'll keep you company. Won't we guys?"

"Yeah. We keep you com'ny Daddy." Henry replied with a nod.

"Gee, thanks guys." Spence said, looking over his shoulder at JJ and the kids as he pushed in the code to open the overhead garage door so he could get out the grill.

"SURPRISE!" was chorused out by all of their close friends and family as the door rose up.

Spence stood gob smacked for a moment. "I… you…. I…. you…" He turned to look at JJ as she stepped up next to him.

"You didn't really think I was going to make you grill out on your birthday did you?" She asked as she grinned up at him.

"Happy birthday old man!" Morgan said as he stepped forward and slapped Reid on the shoulder. Then he pulled the infamous felt birthday cake hat from behind his back and tugged it down on Reid's head.

"I… you guys…" Spence glanced around as he took in the sight of all his friends, a table full of presents, a long table full of food already prepared, and at the back of the garage Mike, Chris, Ben, and Kyle stood tuning up the instruments. "Thanks baby." Spence whispered as he leaned down and kissed JJ.

"Mmm" JJ moaned into the kiss. "You're welcome." She said with a smile as she wiped her thumb across Spence's lower lip when they parted then she reached up and playfully tugged on the brim of the birthday hat and leaned in and kissed him again.

 

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"Awww," Penelope cooed as she cleaned up Joshua's face and hands and removed his messy bib. "I was wondering if you were going to put it on him." She said as she turned to look at JJ.

"Of course I was." JJ replied with a smile. "Josh has worn every single one of the special occasion onsies that you made for him. Just like Chloe and Henry both did too." She said with a smile at her friend.

Josh sat happily kicking his feet and waving his arms, enjoying all of the attentions he was getting as the current youngest in the group, wearing his one of a kind Penelope Garcia-Morgan creation onsie that said, 'Today is my Daddy's Birthday'. Not that Josh was aware of what it said, but there were pictures in his baby book him wearing all of the fun, unique, and sometimes hilarious onsies Aunt Penelope had made. There were of course all of the holidays, but also some specially selected dates such as family birthdays, but JJ's favorite had been the three month onsie that only Pen could have come up with. It said 'I'm 3 months old today. Today may or may not be the day I became more than just a twinkle in my Daddy's eye.'

"We should probably get all of this stuff put away so that the guys can play huh?" Emily said as she glanced around the table.

"Not to mention so there's a place to put the cake later." JJ added.

"Okay campers let's do this." Penelope said as she stood up.

"Nope, not you pregnant lady. You sit down and relax. The other twenty some odd people here not including the kids can all chip in." Elle said laying her hand on Penelope's shoulder and guiding her back to the chair.

"Besides, someone needs to sit with Josh anyway." JJ said as she loaded her arms up with items to carry into the house and put away. "Might as well be his Aunt Penelope."

 

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I think I'll take a moment, celebrate my age  
The ending of an era and the turning of a page  
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here  
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

 

Spence smiled at his friends and family as the guys played on the mini stage in their garage. It felt good to do this again. He'd missed this while he'd been having the headaches. Today was shaping up to be a great birthday.

Hey my next thirty years I'm gonna have some fun  
Try to forget about all the crazy things I've done  
Maybe now I've conquered all my adolescent fears  
And I'll do it better in my next thirty years

Hotch smiled and turned to Gideon who was standing next to him. Gideon didn't usually come to team gatherings, but he'd made a special exception for this one. Reid after all, was like a son to him in some ways. "It's been amazing hasn't it, to watch him grow up right in front of us? It seems like ages ago that you were telling me about the brilliant young holder of not one but three PHDs that you'd recruited to the team." Hotch said as he stood with his arms crossed, watching Reid.

Gideon nodded, "He's been through a lot in the last several years… but I think all of that has made him a better person, and falling in love, well falling in love makes all of us better people doesn't it?"

Hotch turned to follow the path of Gideon's gaze to find where Sarah and Emily stood together chatting. Yes, love certainly did seem to bring out the best in people.

My next thirty years I'm gonna settle all the scores  
Cry a little less, laugh a little more  
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear  
Figure out just what I'm doing here  
In my next thirty years

Emily shook her head where she stood talking with Sarah, Rossi, and Erin. She'd tried to continue to hate Erin Strauss-Rossi, but considering how she's come through for the team a couple of months ago, she'd decided the woman had earned, if not a clean slate, then at least a second chance. "You know Reid amazes me. I had so much to still figure out when I was thirty and he just seems like he has it all together. He's done more by the time he's thirty than so many of the people I know have done in their entire lives. Most people, me included, are just figuring out who they are when they turn thirty."

"He's a very blessed man to have figured out so early in life what's really important. Some of us take a little longer." Rossi replied, his arm tightening around Erin's shoulders.

Oh my next thirty years, I'm gonna watch my weight  
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late  
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers  
Maybe I'll remember my next thirty years

"What do you think pretty boy will look like in thirty years?" Morgan asked as he turned to Will and Elle and took a sip of his beer.

Elle tipped her head. "Something tells me he'll be able to pull off that sophisticated professor look he has working for him even better at 60 than he's been able to the last seven years." She chuckled and then took a sip of her beer.

"Mm hm" Penelope nodded in agreement. "Junior G-man will definitely be hip and happening. And can you imagine how those big brown eyes of his will be set off by a little bit of salt and pepper in his hair. Mmmmm." Penelope moaned.

Elle laughed just a bit, knowing all too well what was going on with her friend, having had the same issue herself, working with so many good looking men during her pregnancy as well. She leaned into Penelope. "Hormones?"

"God yes." Penelope whispered in reply. "My hot chocolate stud muffin is sooooo getting jumped when we get home."

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life  
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife  
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear  
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years  
In my next thirty years

-My Next Thirty Years – Tim McGraw

JJ smiled as Spence stepped off the stage and leaned down and kissed her. She giggled as the brim of the birthday hat that everyone had insisted he keep on brushed across her forehead.

Spence made a funny face at Joshua, who was on JJ's hip, as he pulled out of the kiss. Joshua giggled and squirmed as he reached for Daddy's hat while Daddy tickled his belly.

Suddenly he had a two year old clamped onto one leg and a three year old clamped onto the other leg.

"Aun' 'Nelope tay it time for cake!" Henry said excitedly as he leaned back and looked up at Daddy.

JJ chuckled knowing just how out of control Penelope's hormones were making her. Of course the pregnant lady wanted cake. She also hadn't missed the way Penelope had been eyeing all of adult males all afternoon long. After three children there wasn't a doubt in her mind that Penelope would be molesting her husband when she got home. Somehow, she didn't think Morgan would mind.

"She did?" Spence asked and then turned to look at Chloe.

Chloe nodded her head causing her blonde curls to bounce. "Yep" she said popping the p. "She telled us to come get you so you can make a wish and blow out your candles."

"Okay, we better go sit down so Daddy can make a wish and blow out the candles then." JJ said then leaned up to kiss Spence again. "What are you going to wish for?" she murmured against his lips.

"I have no idea." Spence replied with a smile.

"I'm sure you'll think of something. After all, you're a genius." JJ teased and tugged on the brim of the hat. Then she turned and guided Chloe and Henry to sit down so that they could see Daddy blow out the candles on his birthday cake, all 30 of them.

"Hey JJ" Morgan called out over the crowed, "Did you get a fire permit for that cake?" causing laughter to ring out through the group.

 

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Hours later exhausted families left for home, between all the food, music, cake and all the kids running around playing together, everyone was sure to sleep well tonight.

Aaron grinned as he slid into bed next to Emily and kissed her shoulder while she was putting lotion on her legs. "You know, I don't want you to think that just because we didn't have a big party for your birthday, that I forgot." He said slid behind her, kissing her neck while he held a beautifully wrapped gift in front of her.

"Oh Aaron" Emily gasped in surprise as she opened the gift, revealing a mother's necklace with birth stones for Declan, Jack, Avery, and Seth. Then she turned her head to look at him. "I know that nobody forgot. JJ wanted it to make it a joint party for Reid and I both since our birthdays are only a few days apart, but I told her no. Thirty is such a big birthday and I didn't want to steal any of the spot light from Reid." she said.

"Mm hm" Aaron murmured. "Something tells me that you, Mrs. Hotchner, just didn't want to publicly celebrate your 41 birthday." Aaron replied with a teasing twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face.

Emily groaned. "Don't say it out loud. If you don't say it out loud, I can pretend to be a younger woman."

"As far as I'm concerned you will always be a younger woman." Aaron replied wiggling his eyebrows.

"You old letch." Emily laughed slapping Aaron on the shoulder.

"If you think I'm a letch now, you should have heard my thoughts the first time we met." Aaron replied, trailing his finger up and down Emily's arm.

Emily settled back against his chest. "Yeah, I can hear them right now. Who is this chick and what does she think she's doing sitting in my office?" Emily said, dropping her voice low to try and impersonate Aaron.

Aaron shook his head. "No, not that time. The time we met when you were going away to Yale."

"Oh" Emily asked quirking an eyebrow as she tipped her head back to look at Aaron. "Well, then by all means Special Agent Hotchner, you should show me exactly what you were thinking about. But we'll have to be quiet. My parents will be so disappointed if they catch me with the help just before I leave for school. My mother has big plans for me, and they don't include me marrying an FBI Agent, even one as gorgeous as you." Emily said in a low sultry voice and then laughed at the look on her husband's face. "What? You said I'll always be a younger woman… is an 18 year old Emily Prentiss too much for you to handle?" Emily asked as turned and rose up on her knees running her pointer finger down her husband's white t-shirt covered chest.

Aaron grinned, his hips settling on Emily's waist. "Who am I to deny the birthday girl? After all, once you go away to Yale who knows if we'll ever see each other again." He replied falling into his role.

Emily grinned and lowered herself into Aaron's lap. "Something tells me we'll meet again Agent Hotchner," Emily grinned as she lowered herself into her husband's lap, "and that it will be a very productive and fruitful union."

Aaron couldn't help it. His head dropped back on his shoulders and he laughed.

"Sssh" Emily murmured as she kissed him. "You'll wake the kids up and then we won't be able to celebrate my birthday."

"Right, we wouldn't want that now would we?" Aaron asked as he pulled Emily close with one arm around her lower back, drawing her further into his lap while his other hand cupped her neck and jaw as he pulled her in for a deep and needy kiss.

Emily's head tipped back as Aaron ground against her. He took advantage of the opportunity to kiss along the column of her neck. Then he lowered her back onto the bed and rose up above her on his knees pulling his t-shirt off over his head before lowering himself over her.

"Mmm" Emily moaned as Aaron lowered his weight on top of her. "Why Agent Hotchner, I think you forgot to take off your side arm. Someone as innocent as me might accidentally get shot."

Aaron shook his head. "You do know that I know you were anything but innocent at 18, right?" he asked quirking an eyebrow at his wife.

Emily grinned. "Yeah, but you didn't know that back then honey. You do have a permit for this concealed weapon don't you?" she teased as she nudged her thigh against his erection. Her laughter stopped when Aaron leaned back down to kiss her and drug the t-shirt she was wearing up over her head leaving her in only her panties.

 

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"Hey," JJ whispered as she met Spence in the hallway as he was coming out from tucking Chloe and Henry in for the night and she was coming out from just putting Josh down for the night.

"Hey, thanks for today. It was a great day." Spence whispered in reply as they turned and went in their bedroom.

Spence sat down on the edge of their bed, kicking off his shoes and peeling off his socks and then leaned back on the bed, waiting for JJ.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it baby." JJ called out from their bathroom where she was pulling a quick change.

"Yeah, I…" Spence started to speak but then trailed off as JJ appeared in the doorway of their walk-in closet.

"You what?" JJ asked as she walked towards Spence, the hem of the short hot pink silk robe she was wearing, just barely skimming the middle of her thighs.

"Uh…really enjoyed it." Spence replied as his eyes moved up and down his wife's body.

"That's good. That was the plan." JJ replied as she stepped between Spence's thighs where he sat on their bed. "But now I'm thinking…" JJ said as she trailed her hands up Spence's thighs, "that you," her hands moved up his sides and across his chest, "are entirely overdressed for the private party that I have planned just for us." She finished as she untucked and began to unbutton his shirt.

Spence ran his hands up and down the creamy skin of his wife's thighs as she unbuttoned his shirt, the silk of her pink robe tickling the backs of his hands every time his hands slipped just under the edge of the robe.

JJ giggled as she peeled Spence's shirt off of him and then lifted her hand to his forehead. "You have a line from wearing that birthday cake hat almost all day." She said as she gently traced her fingers over the indent in his forehead and then leaned forward, kissing along the line on his forehead.

Spence slipped his arms around JJ's waist as she planted kisses along his forehead and then all over the rest of his face. He tightened his grip when her lips met his in a hungry kiss.

Then JJ broke the kiss, taking a step backwards and reaching behind her for Spence's hands. "Come on baby. Stand up."

"Mm nn" Spence grumbled from where his face was buried in JJ's neck.

"Mm.. oh God Spence." JJ moaned in response to Spence kissing along her neck. "You're still overdressed baby. Come on; stand up so I can take your pants off."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so?" Spence teased with a grin as he lifted his head and then stood up and followed JJ as she stepped away from their bed, his hands resting on her hips.

JJ shrugged as she looked up at Spence. "What would be the fun in that?" she replied with a flirty wink and a wicked grin as her nimble fingers undid his belt buckle, the button on his favorite pair of corduroys and lowered the zipper. Her fingers and palms dragged along his ass and thighs as she pushed his pants off his slim hips and they dropped to the floor.

"Aren't you the one who's overdressed now?" Spence asked as his fingers trailed along the silk covering his wife's body.

JJ shook her head. "No."

"You're not?" Spence asked in confusion as JJ backed him up to the bed.

JJ smiled. "Nope," She replied as she placed her hand in the center of his chest and pressed, pushing him back on their bed and then crawled up after him, hovering over him. "You still have one more present to open baby."

"Oh" Spence replied, his eyes widening in understanding as JJ settled in on top of him and leaned down to kiss him, her fingers tangling in his hair as he pulled her closer, his arms winding around her waist.

JJ moaned into the kiss, feeling Spence getting hard against her leg. She pulled out of the kiss and swung one of her legs over Spence and pushed herself up, straddling his waist. She rubbed his chest and belly as she sat perched above him.

Spence ran his hands up and down JJ's thighs, as she sat straddled above him, just watching her for moment and realizing how lucky he was. He certainly hadn't expected to be here at this point by the time he was 30, if ever. "I love you JJ." He murmured as he slid his hands up to her waist, resting on the belt holding her robe closed.

"I love you too baby." JJ replied as she pulled one of Spence's hands off her waist and lifted it to her kips, kissing the palm. Then she lowered his hand back to her waist, resting it on the tie of her robe.

Spence watched JJ's eyes as his fingers pulled on the ends of the belt to her robe. His hands went to her hips as her hot pink robe fell open. "JJ God babe…" he groaned at the sight of the very sexy hot pink demi cup lace bra and matching hot pink lace panties, both of which matched her robe.

"You like it baby?" JJ asked as she leaned down, bracing herself on her forearms as she leaned down over her husband, her hair cascading around his face in a golden curtain.

"Like is an understatement babe." Spence murmured against her lips as his hands slid up JJ's ribcage, enjoying caressing all of the newly exposed flesh.

JJ practically purred as she arched her back as Spence's hands ran up and down her body.

"JJ you are so sexy." Spence whispered as he raised his hand and brushed her hair back from her face and leaned up to kiss her, his palm cupping her neck as his thumb stroked just in front of her ear. He sat up, groaning as JJ pressed and slid against him, her lace panties and bra dragging against his skin as she settled into his lap.

JJ wiggled, getting comfortable astride Spence's lap as her silk clad arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Happy birthday baby." she whispered in his ear, her breath brushing along the shell of his ear as she took his earlobe between her teeth and tugged softly. Then she kissed just below and behind his ear, slowly moving lower along his neck, nuzzling at the point where his neck and shoulder met.

Spence tipped his head back, granting JJ more access to his neck. His hands cupped her ass, holding on as she rolled her hips against him. He was lost in a sea of sensation, completely surrounded by the smell of JJ and the feel of silk and lace and her creamy smooth skin against his.

Spence steeled himself against the ecstasy and lifted his head, dropping it forward and nuzzling at JJ's neck as he slid his hands from her ass and along her tone thighs, his fingers and thumbs massaging ever so gently as they moved towards her knees. Once he reached her knees, he shifted his grip, his finger brushing along the tops of her thighs instead of along the outside.

JJ gasped as Spence's hands reached her hips. His left hand pressed flat against her lower belly, one of his fingertips stroking the lower edge of her belly button, while his thumb stretched to stoke her nether region, teasing and rubbing gentle circles on the lace covering her sensitive nub. His other hand gripped low on her hip, his fingers teasing the area where her butt met her thigh.

Spence smiled against JJ's neck as he listened to the increased pace of JJ's breathing. He dipped his head, his nose brushing against the silk of the robe as he moved to kiss his wife's chest. He kissed along her cleavage. His tongue traced a trail along the boundary of pink lace created by the top edge of her bra.

JJ cried out, arching against Spence, her fingers tangling in his hair and clutching at his back as he swirled his tongue over one of her nipples. The moisture from his tongue combined with the texture of the lace caused a shiver to go up her spine.

Spence stroked his thumb over JJ's other nipple as his lips, tongue, and teeth continued their assault. He pulled his mouth away from JJ's breast and blew across the moist lace. The cool air moving across her nipple caused JJ's already hard sensitive bud to tighten that much more.

JJ moaned and rolled her hips, overcome and lost bliss. Spence's mouth worked on one breast, while his thumb stroked her other nipple. She could feel the tightness in her nipples as Spence continued to alternate back and forth between her breasts. She pressed more urgently against Spence's hand; his thumb continued to flutter in light circles, teasing her delicate flesh. "Spence, baby… mmm… God… you just… oh baby…" she cooed as her hands clutched at his back.

Spence twisted his hand, moving it so that it was no longer just his thumb moving over the sensitive flesh of her nether region, but now his fingers were as well. He slipped two fingers in the side of JJ's panties, his fingers skimming over her lower lips, teasing as his fingers spread the moisture they found, while his thumb continued to drum against her lace covered pearl.

JJ pulled Spence's head up away from her breasts, her lips pressing passionately against his as his fingers curled forward pressing against her G-spot. Her tongue tangled with his.

Spence captured her scream of release as she shuddered in his arms.

JJ pulled her lips away from Spence's. She met Spence's gaze with hooded eyes. "Now, baby. I want you now."

"JJ…" Spence murmured, his brain working to calculate the quickest way to remove JJ's robe, bra, and panties.

"Shhh" JJ murmured in reply. She reached down and grasped his cock in her hand, rose to her knees and guided him to where his fingers had pushed her panties out of the way.

Spence groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head at the feeling of lace and JJ sliding down his length. "JJ, babe… oh God." He moaned as JJ began to tantalizingly move up and down. The alternating sensations of the roughness of the lace and the velvety silk of JJ's tight wet heat rubbing against him had him gasping against his wife's neck as he buried his face in the golden halo of her hair and bucked against her.

JJ ground against Spence as his thumb continued to rub against her clit, working her towards her peak. Her arms tightened around Spence and she pressed her lips against his, her screams of pleasure muffled by her husband's lips as she came.

Spence paused, running his hand down JJ's back and then reaching up to brush her hair back from her face as he continued to softly kiss her and softly and gently ease her down from the high of her orgasm as his thumb continued to stroke her.

"God baby… how did you get so good at this?" JJ asked when she was finally able to speak.

"I guess I had a really good teacher." Spence smiled as he leaned down to kiss JJ. "That and you know what an apt pupil I am."

JJ chuckled as she ran her fingers through Spence's hair. "Yes, you are quite the scholar… one might even say a prodigy." JJ giggled as she nuzzled her nose against his cheek and shifted in his lap.

Spence groaned as JJ shifted against his erection.

JJ smiled against Spence cheek and then turned her head and kissed him as she clenched her internal muscles around him. "Lay down baby." JJ said as she pulled out of the kiss, her silk clad arms sliding from around Spence's neck as she placed her hands on his chest, pushing back gently.

"Wha…" Spence started to question, but was cut off by JJ pressing her lips against his again. He groaned into the kiss as her hands slid down his chest, pausing momentarily as her thumbs rubbed across his nipples. Her hands continued their downward slide, stroking his abdomen as they continued to kiss.

"Ssshh" JJ said as she pulled away from his lips. "Just lay down. Trust me."

Spence nodded and then kissed JJ one more time before submitting to her request and lying back against the pillows on their bed.

JJ winked at Spence, her hands rubbing across his belly as she sat perched on his hips. She rolled her hips, causing them both to moan. Then she lifted and sank down, combined with the occasional roll of her hips.

Spence watched in awe as JJ rode him. His wife was a vision in pink silk and lace. Her blonde hair was wild and untamed from being loved and made love to, her eyes were blue fire, and she bit her lip, moaning as she moved against him. It was a powerful to know that he inspired this intense emotion, this ardor, this fervor in the one he loved so well and with the depth of his being.

JJ smiled down at Spence and shifted her hands from his belly to his thighs as she leaned back, shifting the angle. One hand continued to grip his thigh, her fingernails lightly scraping along the skin of his thigh, while she found his balls, playing with them and scratching them lightly with her other hand.

Spence groaned and bucked his hips in time with JJ's motions as their rhythm sped up. Then his hands sought out her hips, holding her close as he thrust once, twice, three times, grinding against JJ just right with each thrust and then they fell apart together.

JJ collapsed against Spence's chest, gasping as she pressed soft kisses against his neck. "Happy birthday baby. I love you."

"I love you too JJ." Spence replied as he moved her robe out of the way to kiss her shoulder while his other hand rubbed up and down her back as she lay splayed across the top of him, covering him with her slim body. He reached up and pulled her robe from her shoulders, dragging it down her arms, and tossed it to the side of the bed. Then he wrapped his arms around her back, undoing the clasp of her bra. "Come on JJ, lift up." Spence said, kissing her shoulder again as he slid her bra straps down her shoulders, pausing when they rested on her upper arms as she was still pressed against his chest.

"What, are you ready for round two already birthday boy?" she teased as she lifted her upper body just enough that he was able to slip her bra down and she her arms out of the straps.

Spence smiled and leaned down to kiss her. "Maybe in a little bit, if you want, but you can't fall asleep wearing these. They'll chafe." He explained as he tossed her bra off to the side to join her robe on the floor of their bedroom and then rested his hands on her hips, toying with the waistband of her panties as he started to peel it down from her hips. "Come on babe, lift up." Spence murmured as he nuzzled against the blonde crown of JJ's head where it was buried against his chest.

"Un uh" JJ mumbled into his chest.

"Why not?" Spence asked in confusion as he kissed the top of her head.

"Don't want you to move… I like where you are right now." JJ said as she lifted her head and kissed the center of her husband's chest as she used her internal muscles to clench him again in his softening state.

"JaaaayJaaaaay" Spence groaned, dragging out his wife's name as he tugged again on her panties.

"Oh fiiiiiiiiine" JJ wined, teasing in response as she lifted her hips, gasping as Spence pulled out of her and her panties slid down her legs. She managed to kick her legs free, her panties joining their pile of discarded clothes.

"Thank you" Spence murmured as he caressed the naked expanse of JJ's back, his hands delighting in stroking across the planes of silky smooth skin.

"For what?" JJ asked as she propped her head up on Spence's chest to look at him.

Spence shrugged. "Another great birthday, three great kids, our family, our life together, loving me… any of it… all of it."

JJ smiled and scooted up, her fingers running lightly over Spence's face as she looked down at him, from her perch on his chest, her legs dangling to either side of his hips. "You're welcome baby… but just so you know, I have to thank you for all of the same things." She whispered as she beamed down into the swirling depths of the beautiful brown eyes of the one she loved.

 

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"Here are Jack's standardized test scores." Jack's teacher said as the laid the test scores down on the table she was sitting at with Aaron, Haley, and Emily. "Jack tells me that you read together every night, whichever home he's at." The teacher said with a smile.

"We just finished 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' last night." Aaron said with a smile as he glanced up from looking at Jack's test scores with Haley and Emily.

"I wish you could work with all of my kids." The teacher smiled as she looked at Jack's father, mother, and step-mother. She wished more of the children had as strong of a support system and as many people that loved and cared about them as Jack obviously did.

"He's reading at a fourth grade level?" Haley asked, slightly amazed. She knew Jack was bright, but for her six year old son to be reading at a fourth grade level… she smiled as she turned to look at Aaron and Emily. "That's really, really good right?" she asked as she turned to look back at Jack's teacher.

The teacher nodded. "Yes and as you can see, his scores are high across the board," she paused for a moment, "but he seems to be holding back in the classroom."

"Why do you think that is?" Aaron asked in concern.

"Has he ever mentioned a classmate named Paul?" the teacher asked.

"Paul Kane?" Aaron asked.

"Mm hm" the teacher nodded.

Emily, Haley, and Aaron all nodded as Aaron spoke. "Yes, he's been over. He's a friend of Jack's."

"Well Paul is being mean to Jack for some reason." The teacher explained.

"How long has that been happening?" Haley asked in concern.

"A few weeks," the teacher answered, "Jack's just his latest target. We've moved Jack away from Paul and we're documenting everything of course."

Haley sat confused for a moment as to why Jack wouldn't have told them he was being picked on. Haley opened her mouth to speak, but Aaron reached over and set his hand on her arm, silencing her as he spoke. "Well Jack says everything is going very well at school, so the steps you're taking must be working."

"Thank you" the teacher replied.

"Let us know if anything changes." Aaron replied. "Can we keep this?" he asked with a nod to the standardized test scores on the table in front of him, Emily and Haley.

"Thank you so much." Aaron said as he stood up followed by Haley and Emily.

 

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"Why didn't Jack tell us about being picked?" Haley asked as the three of them walked out of the school together.

Emily glanced sideways at Aaron, who appeared to be mulling the situation over in his head. "He wants to try to fix it himself." Emily replied as they reached where they and Haley had parked.

Haley nodded. "I guess he's not a baby anymore huh?"

Aaron shook his head. "No, no he's not."

Haley frowned. "So how do we handle this?"

"I think we keep an eye on things and see if Jack can work it out on himself. As much as we love him, and as much as we want to protect him, we have to let him try on his own first. We can talk to him tonight and make sure that he knows he can always come to us." Aaron replied.

Haley nodded. "It was so much easier when all it took was a hug and a kiss to make everything better in his world."

Emily smiled, knowing exactly what Haley was talking about. "Well the good news is that kisses and hugs still will make him feel better, it just doesn't magically fix everything like it did a few years ago."

"I guess we have to let him grow up." Haley said somewhat nostalgically. "So," she said as she turned to look at Aaron, "I'll see you tonight, unless something comes up?"

Aaron nodded. "I'll call and let you know if we get a case otherwise I'll come over at seven?" he said, his voice inflecting a question on the time he should come over.

"Seven works. You can spend some time with Jack and I'm sure he'd like it if you tucked him in." Haley replied as she opened her car door. "Talk to you later or see you tonight."

Aaron nodded in reply. He and Emily waved as Haley backed out of her parking space. Then he opened the car door for Emily so they could head to the BAU for their briefing.

 

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"Phew" Spence blew out a sigh in response to the destruction caused by the bomb as he, JJ, and Elle walked into Principal Gibbons' bedroom.

JJ took in the sight of the destruction caused by the bomb as she followed Spence into the room and chose to focus on the case so that they could find whoever was behind this as quickly as possible. "Okay, so the unsub has to be tied to the school somehow right?" she asked as she walked through the room, her boots crunching small pieces of debris as she walked through the scene. "Current student, alumni, family member who lost someone" she listed off possible connections as she slowly turned to take in the room.

"Could be a Slade groupie celebrating his hero." Spence replied. "He taped nails to the exterior of the bomb specifically to rip open flesh. That's a sadistic detail of Slade's the unsub copied."

"Except he tricked Gibbons into blowing himself up," JJ said as she stood up from leaning over to look at some damage done to the wall, "a groupie probably wouldn't show that much self-control."

Elle nodded in silent agreement as she stood in the center of the room taking in the damage the bomb blast had caused and trying to remember everything Morgan had taught her about explosives over the years.

"Somebody with an axe to grind would. Maybe he was a surrogate for the tormentors in high school he can't punish. Who were yours?" Spence asked offhand, turning to look at Elle. JJ being his wife, they'd already thoroughly discussed most of their personal history. He'd heard all about how cruel children in a small town could be when an older sibling committed suicide. Somehow, JJ had managed to rise above it and instead of allowing being tormented by others become a reason to become a mean girl herself; she'd allowed it to drive her, to use it as her reason to push harder. After all, she had been valedictorian and a soccer scholarship recipient. She'd used her gifts and talents to get her out of a small town and to somewhere she would be able to make a difference and help people.

Elle smiled. "You're right everybody has somebody tormenting them in high school whether you're one of the popular kids or not. For me, I took a lot of flak for growing up without a Dad. Kids can be cruel sometimes and they can always figure out what your weakness is and how to use it to hurt you the most."

JJ and Spence both nodded, knowing from their own pasts just how true that was.

"So," Elle said as she looked around the room again, "do you think we have enough fragments that we'd get anything from profiling the bomb itself?"

Spence tipped his head in contemplation. "Between the size of the original charge, the force of the blast and the added component of the nails, I don't think there's enough material left to be able to reconstruct the bomb. Besides it looks like it was pretty basic. The phone was probably hooked directly to the charge." He said as he knelt down looking at the few remaining pieces of the bomb.

"How can you tell that?" JJ asked as she knelt down next to Spence, taking this as an opportunity to learn. Sometimes you didn't just have to profile people and their actions, but also the objects they used or didn't use.

 

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"Agent Rossi was always very nice to Brandon. Let him do it." Martha Slade said as she looked at Agent Hotchner through her front door.

"Dave" Hotch turned and called over his shoulder as Martha Slade let him and Emily into the house.

"Okay, feel free to call me if you have any other background questions. My number is 702-555-0103." Morgan said, wrapping up talking to the press so that he and Rossi could join Hotch and Emily in talking with the Slades.

"And what's your name sir?" one of the reporter's asked.

"Ugh, it's Dr. Spencer Reid. R-E-I-D." Morgan said as he leaned in towards the reporter wanting to make sure that they had Reid's name.

 

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"Jerry Holtz?" Emily asked as she walked up to the latest crime scene that JJ and Reid were examining. "How long?"

"Less than an hour." JJ replied, her hands resting on her hips. "Security guard heard the commotion, but the unsub was already gone."

"The only people who knew we were doing the cognitive interviews were the other survivors. The unsub must be part of that group." Emily replied.

"Well we don't know that for a fact. He could have been lying in wait. Look Hotch wants me to go through the victims' lives and find the overlap. We can compare their histories with the unsub's."

"Well, what else do we have going?" Emily asked as she turned and looked around at the high school hallway.

"Spence said the unsub would have broken his hand beating Chelsea to death. Did you see anyone with a cast on their hand, someone who seemed hurt?" JJ asked.

"No" Emily replied shaking her head.

"I might know why." Reid replied from where he was knelt down examining the broken glass and damage to the trophy case. Then he turned to look up at Emily and JJ. "This unsub doesn't feel pain."

 

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As Hotch turned and walked away to speak with Garcia, Reid moved to pull all of his files together where they lay on the table. "I will crush you." he said under his breath.

"What?" Morgan asked.

"What?" Reid repeated.

Elle crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow at Rossi and Morgan. "I don't know what exactly the two of you did," she said as she took stock of the two of them smirking as they watched Reid walk away, "but the two of you better hope you're prepared for whatever form of revenge Reid comes up with. You do realize that Caltech and MIT are famous for their prank wars against each other and that Reid has degrees from both schools don't you?" she asked feeling satisfied on Reid's behalf as she watched the smirks on both Rossi and Morgan's faces slip just a little bit and concern crept onto their faces as they looked at each other and then back in the direction that Reid had walked.

 

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"Hey do you ladies want some help?" Elle asked as she walked into the room that Emily and JJ were using to search through old yearbooks, looking for anything that could tell them more about who the survivors had been ten years ago.

"I thought you were working with the guys on some things?" Emily asked.

Elle nodded. "Reid got us all up to speed on the unsub not feeling pain… and Morgan and Rossi are irritating me right now."

"Care to share?" JJ asked.

"Oh, I'm sure Reid will tell you all about it later." Elle replied. "Let's just focus on catching this guy so we can go home."

"Alright then, here you go." Emily said, handing Elle one of the yearbooks.

"It's so weird seeing yearbooks again." Emily said as she flipped through the pages. "A friend of mine who teaches said that Facebook is making them obsolete."

"Have you ever seen Hotch or Reid's yearbooks?" Elle asked curiously. She'd seen Will's. It was always entertaining to see who someone had been before you knew them.

Emily sighed. "Yes… but then looking at all the sickeningly sweet pictures of Aaron and Haley together almost made me sick… until I remembered that I'm with him now and that someday they will be a great memory for Jack."

JJ shook her head. "Spence doesn't have his."

"Reid doesn't have his yearbooks? Who doesn't have their yearbooks?" Elle asked in surprise.

"Someone who doesn't want to remember high school." JJ replied a little sadly at the thought of all her husband had endured at such a young age.

Elle winced, wondering how many bad memories whatever was going on with Morgan and Rossi was bringing up. "I suppose that's true."

JJ nodded and glanced back down at the yearbook on the table in front of her. "I am having serious flashbacks going through these senior bios. Four years of accomplishments boiled down to one paragraph." She said as she flipped a page. "Hey did either of your schools have anything called 'Top Ten'?"

"Mm no. Is it an academic thing?" Emily asked.

"No, I don't think so." JJ replied. "Only ten of the survivors listed, including Jerry and Chelsea and neither of them were valedictorian material."

"Maybe it was a popularity contest?" Elle suggested as she came to stand next to JJ, looking down at the same page in the yearbook.

"Well, maybe it's a clique inside a clique." Emily suggested as the three of them looked down at the photos of the survivors.

"Yeah, but it's jocks, nerds, theatre geeks, nothing that would bring these kids together… except…" JJ trailed off as she realized just who these kids were. Emily was right. It was a clique inside a clique. The kids in the 'Top Ten' were the kids who'd spoken to the public, visited other schools, and been on talk shows.

"What?" Emily asked as she turned to look at JJ realizing that she was onto something.

"I know what the 'Top Ten' is." JJ replied.

 

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"Morgan, what are you doing?" Rossi asked as he walked into the bullpen from the break room with a cup of coffee on the way back to his office.

Morgan stood at Reid's desk, a jar of Vaseline in his hands that he was liberally smearing on the ear and mouth piece of Reid's phone. Morgan turned to look at Rossi and grinned. "You heard me tell pretty boy on the plane that paybacks are a bitch. I'm started my payback." Morgan said shaking the handset of Reid's phone. "You want in?" he asked.

"Oh, I want no part of this." Rossi replied. "I was serious when I waved the white flag on the jet. You're on your own. I don't want to hear about anything you have planned for Reid." Rossi said with a shake of his head as he headed for his office.

Hotch shook his head and grinned, as he stood with his arms crossed, watching Morgan down in the bullpen through the window in his office. He decided he was going to handle this the same way he, Haley, and Emily were handling Jack's situation with Paul. He was going to let them work it out for themselves. He'd just keep an eye on them to make sure that they didn't get too out of hand.


	22. Chapter 22

JJ looked at Morgan, a curious expression on her face as she, Emily, Elle, and Penelope came into the bullpen from the break room. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on as she noticed him watching Spence very intently. She supposed she would have to wait and see.

Morgan sat staring intently at Reid over the rim of his coffee cup, willing the younger agent's phone to ring. Slathering Reid's phone with Vaseline was only worth it if he actually answered the phone and placed the receiver to his ear.

And then it happened. Reid picked up his phone while looking down at the file in front of him to call the LEO working the case he was putting a profile together for. He placed the receiver to his ear and then "Aaaaah!" Reid screeched at the wet gushy mess that was pressed against his ear. He turned and glared at Morgan, knowing that it had been his best friend who'd done whatever in God's name had been done to his phone.

Morgan laughed as Reid wiped at his ear with Kleenex, and shook his head attempting to get the offending sliminess out of his ear.

Eventually, Reid gave up on attempting to clean the Vaseline off of his phone and used his cell phone to make his calls for the rest of the day. He'd probably need to either get a new handset for his phone, or soak it in bleach for a week to get the greasy residue from what Morgan had admitted was Vaseline off of his phone. As he worked on his stack of cases, he watched Morgan and his habits, looking for anything he could exploit for a prank. He watched as Morgan opened and closed desk drawers looking for a pen and other items.

 

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"Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy!" was the excited chorus that greeted Spence and JJ as they got home from work that night.

"Hi sweetie, hi little man," JJ said, greeting Chloe and Henry as she dropped to her knees and pulled them both into a hug at the same time.

"Hi Mommy!" Chloe and Henry replied in unison, excited and happy to see Mommy and Daddy after a day spent apart.

Spence smiled as he looked down at JJ, Chloe, and Henry together on the floor. "What about me? Do I get hugs?" he mock pouted.

JJ tipped her head back and smiled at Spence as Chloe and Henry both looked up at Daddy.

"Hi Daddy!" Henry shouted as he launched himself at Daddy.

"Oof" Spence grunted as he caught Henry. "Hey little man, did you, Chloe, and Joshua have fun with Rebecca today."

"Uh huh" Henry nodded. "Joshie and I pwayed dinotaurs."

"You did?" Spence asked.

Henry nodded his head eagerly.

"That sounds fun. Can I play?" Spence asked, a smile on his face as he winked down at JJ.

"Yeah!" Henry screeched, excited for Daddy to play with them.

"How about you princess?" Spence said as he looked down at Chloe, "Do you want to come and play with Henry, Joshua, and me?"

Chloe nodded her head, definitely wanting to be included.

JJ stood up with Chloe in her arms and handed her to Spence.

"Okay, let's go play!" Spence said as he looked from Chloe to Henry. They were each settled on one of his hips.

JJ smiled as she walked beside Spence, her hand resting on his back as Spence and listened to Chloe and Henry chatter to Daddy about what they should play. Henry wanted dinosaurs; Chloe wanted dolls.

"You know we can play both." Spence replied. "It's okay that you like different things. You can still play together."

JJ smiled at Rebecca who was sitting on the floor with Joshua who was surrounded by a few pillows as he sat up on the floor. "Look at you baby boy. Are you sitting up all by yourself?" she cooed as she sat on the floor by Joshua.

Joshua screeched in excitement at seeing Mommy as he waved his arms about in the air.

JJ leaned in and playfully placed kisses all over Joshua's face, causing him to laugh, giggle, and squirm. She picked Joshua up and turned to watch Chloe, Henry, and Spence play together, with Joshua sitting between her legs so that he could lean back against her if he needed, her hand resting on his belly to keep him from falling forward.

Spence smiled as he laughed and played with Chloe and Henry and talked with JJ who sat nearby with Joshua.

"Watch dis Daddy." Henry said as he took one of his dinosaurs and moved it close to Joshua and pulled the string to make it 'talk'.

Joshua laughed and waved his arms to swipe at the dinosaur as his big brother played with him.

Spence's smiled as he watched Henry play with Joshua. "That's really great buddy. Joshua really likes playing dinosaurs with you huh?" Spence asked.

Henry nodded. "Uh huh." He replied as he pulled the string and wiggled the dinosaur for Joshua again, laughing as his baby brother laughed too.

Spence's eyes went wide as he was struck with sudden inspiration and a plan formed in his mind.

 

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"What are you doing?" JJ asked as she walked into the kitchen the next night after they got the kids all put to bed for the night. Spence had pulled out the bag from the toy store that held the purchase he'd run out to make at lunchtime.

Spence smiled as he opened the talking toy dinosaur box and pulled out a screw driver to begin preparations for tomorrow. "Trust me JJ… it's going to be great."

JJ raised an eyebrow as she watched Spence take apart the toy dinosaur and remove the sound box. She watched as he pulled the string several times to make sure that it still worked. Then she watched as Spence attached several long pieces of string to the plastic ring and rolled them up. Then she shook her head and walked away into the living room. No one was getting hurt during this prank war between Morgan and Spence, and it was more than a little entertaining for the rest of them. She was willing to wait and be surprised by whatever Spence had planned; something told her it would be worth it.

 

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Spence smirked into his coffee cup as he took a sip, looking forward to a day in the bullpen. Then he opened a case file and got to work.

Morgan pulled off his leather jacket, resting it over the back of his chair and booted up his computer. "Mornin' pretty boy." He said in a congenial tone as he grabbed his coffee cup off his desk and headed to the break room for a cup of the FBI's version of coffee.

"Morning" Reid replied, glancing up from his case file to nod at Morgan.

Reid watched out of the corner of his eye as Morgan settled in at his desk.

Morgan took a sip of coffee as he sat down at his desk. He pulled a case file off of the stack sitting on his desk. Then he began looking for a pen. He shifted papers out of the way, looking for, but not finding a pen. Then he opened his top desk drawer.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAR!" was belted out from somewhere in the depths of his desk.

"What the…" Morgan trailed off as he jumped up from his chair, nearly falling off it in the process.

Reid laughed at the shocked expression on Morgan's face as he stood staring at his desk wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Cute kid, real cute." Morgan replied, shaking his head as he made a point to pull everything out of the tampered with desk drawer that he might need so as not to have to open it again that day.

Reid grinned, knowing that while Morgan might think it was over, it definitely was not.

A while later Morgan opened a different desk drawer, looking for a file and was once again greeted with, "RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR RRRR!"

"Son of a…" Morgan exclaimed as he jumped in his seat and then looked around the bullpen at everyone staring at him with smirks on their faces, once their shock and surprise was over. Morgan looked at Reid, looked at his desk, looked at Reid, and then back at his desk. Then he opened one after another of his desk drawers, each drawer opening was followed by a "RRROOOAAAARRRR!" of a toy dinosaur.

Emily had tears in her eyes from laughing. JJ's eyes twinkled as she now understood the extra strings Spence had added onto the pull string of the toy dinosaur sound box.

Elle laughed. "That's some real animal magnetism you have there Derek." She laughed again as Derek tentatively closed one of the desk drawers and reopened it, trying to figure out exactly what Reid had done.

Rossi chuckled at the antics down in the bullpen as he turned to Hotch, who had joined him at the railing of the mezzanine, taking in all of the shenanigans going on in the bullpen. "Just how long are you going to let this go on?" he asked.

Hotch chuckled as Morgan's desk drawers continued to 'ROAR' at him. "You mean this specific prank, or in general?"

Rossi laughed as Morgan crawled under his desk to attempt to disable whatever Reid had done to his desk. "I was thinking more in general. It looks like this will be drawing to a close soon."

Hotch laughed as Morgan stood back up from under his desk, still not having determined what the cause of the issue was. "I was thinking I'd let it run its course as long as it doesn't start to affect cases. They'll get it out of their systems and we'll all get some much needed laughter."

Rossi nodded, agreeing with Hotch's wisdom. The pranks weren't hurting anyone… and Hotch was right. With everything they saw on a daily basis, they could certainly use as much laughter as they could get.

 

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"Who was that David?" Erin asked in concern as David hung up his cell phone.

"It was Carolyn. She wanted to know if we could get together for breakfast tomorrow morning." Dave replied as looked in confusion at his phone and then at Erin.

"Are you going?" Erin asked, curiosity in her voice.

"I have to Erin. When Carolyn and I divorced, we made a pledge to always be there for each other. We always joked that we were the only couple with marriage and divorce vows." Dave replied in concern as he watched Erin.

Erin sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose and nodded. She might not like it, but she certainly understood, "Alright."

"Are you sure you're really alright with this Erin?" Dave asked as he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close and kissing her tenderly.

"Ahhh!" Tim exclaimed covering his eyes jokingly as he walked into the room causing both of his parents to laugh as they pulled apart out of their kiss.

"Maybe we should send you to boarding school. Then we wouldn't have to worry about offending your teenage sensibilities." Dave teased, knowing that it wasn't something that he and Erin would ever even consider.

"Dad, it's not my teenage sensibilities. Nobody wants to walk in on their parents making out no matter how old they are." Tim said as he grabbed a banana, a package of pop tarts, a juice box, and reached into the refrigerator for ingredients to make himself a sandwich for breakfast.

"And you know this because?" Dave asked.

"I took a survey." Tim replied.

"Of who?" Dave asked.

"People." Tim replied with a shrug as he continued to pile meat and cheese on bread and the slather it with mustard.

Erin shook her head and reached into the refrigerator and grabbed an apple handing it to Tim, knowing that her teenage son would finish everything else on the way to school and still be hungry.

"Thanks Mom." Tim replied, kissing her on the cheek. Then he glanced at the clock. "Gotta go if I'm gonfa catf my buf." he mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich as he grabbed his backpack and his soccer gear. "Bye Mom, bye Dad." He tossed over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

Dave shook his head as he turned to Erin. "With Tim's growth spurts, I don't know which is more expensive, the food, or the clothes and shoes that we have to keep buying when he outgrows the old stuff."

Erin chuckled. "I would say it's both. And to finish our conversation from before, yes I'm fine with you meeting Carolyn for breakfast tomorrow. I trust you."

 

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"So sweetie," JJ asked she ran her fingers through Chloe's hair. "What do you want to dress up as for Halloween? We need to get your costume together this weekend."

"Tinkerbelle." Chloe responded with a decisive nod.

JJ smiled, having already figured that was what Chloe might say. "I think we can do that sweetie. Sleep tight. Daddy will in in a minute to give you a good night kiss, okay?"

"Uh huh" Chloe nodded as she yawned while Mommy leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"So buddy, who do you want to dress up as for Halloween?" Spence asked as he tucked Henry in.

Henry shrugged as he yawned. "I no know. Who you be?"

"Well, I'm not sure. Who Mommy and I dress up as depends on what you and Chloe want to be. Is there someone or something special that you want to go as?"

Henry shrugged again, his eyelids getting heavy.

"Hey," JJ said softly as she walked in Henry's room. "Chloe is ready for her goodnight kiss from Daddy."

Spence nodded and stood up from Henry's bed. "I don't think the little man is going to make it through story time with Mommy tonight."

JJ nodded as she peeked around Spence's shoulder to see Henry nodding off in his bed, his eyes barely open. JJ leaned up and gave Spence a quick kiss. "Meet you downstairs in a few."

JJ sat down on the edge of Henry's bed and reached over and brushed Henry's bang off his forehead.

"Mommy," Henry sighed, "lubs you." he whispered just before his closed shut and he fell sound asleep.

JJ leaned down and kissed Henry's forehead. "I love you too little man… so much." She sat watching Henry sleep for just a moment, then she got up and turned on his nightlight and closed the door most of the way behind her as she walked out into the hallway. After pausing to check on both Joshua and Chloe, she headed downstairs where Spence was waiting for her.

 

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"So, give me the update. How are things with Erin?" Carolyn asked, knowing from the last time she and David spoke that he had reconnected with Erin and married her.

"Things with Erin are good." David replied as he cut into his food and glanced up at Carolyn, feeling lost in time as he wondered what could have been. "So, how about you? Anyone special in your life?"

Carolyn shook her head, somewhat sadly; then, summoned the courage to speak again, "You know David, I've been wanting to…" she stopped as she was cut off by the ringing of David's cell phone.

David reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. "Damn it." He said as he looked down at the screen.

"You gotta go." Carolyn said as she nodded her head. "I know. It's okay. It's comforting to know that some things never change."

"Look, how much longer are you going to be in town?" David asked, feeling bad that he had to leave in the middle of their meal to catch up with each other.

"'Bout a week or so probably." Carolyn replied

"Why don't you come over and have dinner with Erin and me before you head back?" David asked. "I still make a monster cioppino."

Carolyn nodded. "I would like that very much."

"Great," David said with a smile, pulling his napkin out of his lap and laying it on the table as he stood up. "Ciao." He said as he kissed Carolyn on either cheek.

"Ciao." Carolyn replied, losing herself in her thoughts as she sat at the café table alone after David left.

 

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"Four pairs of shoes" Morgan said turning off the light in the closet as Reid came back from checking out the kitchen.

"Why exactly is that relevant?" Reid asked as he followed Morgan across the room.

"Come on Reid, how many pairs of shoes does JJ have in your closet?"

"Uh," Reid paused in place for a moment, his head tipping to the side as he mentally visualized his wife's side of their walk-in closet and attempted to mentally count her pairs of shoes… then he remembered she was using a lot of space on his side of the closet as well for her shoes.

Morgan turned around to look at Reid. "You're actually trying to count them in your head right now aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah" Reid said as he looked at Morgan.

"It's a lot more than four isn't it?" Morgan asked.

"Exponentially more." Reid replied with a nod.

 

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JJ sighed as she closed the door of the interrogation room behind her. It saddened her every time they came across a mentally ill parent without a strong support system. It never failed to remind her of what Spence must have gone through as a boy. It also gave her a reason to thank God that everything had turned out alright for Spence with so many opportunities for something to have gone very, very, very wrong.

"You okay?" Elle asked, turning to look at JJ as she exited the interrogation room, from where she stood next to Hotch watching Marlene Smith through the mirrored observation window.

"Yeah" JJ replied with a nod, turning to look through the observation window with Elle and Hotch. "She's not involved." She said as she continued to watch Marlene cradle her head in her hands and sob.

Elle nodded. "She is certainly distressed and she's not showing any signs of guilt."

Hotch nodded. "I agree. Let's have her taken home. Hopefully everyone else found something to help us narrow things down."

 

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Elle shook her head as she looked down at Marlene Smith's body in the convenience store parking lot as Derek walked away to call Penelope. "It's sad that the opportunity for a happy ending to this case is gone."

Reid turned to look up at Elle. "We'll find Bobby, Elle."

Elle nodded. "I know we will, but he won't be reunited with his Mom."

Reid nodded in understanding as they watched the coroner's van pull up, and then looked down at Marlene. "At least Bobby has a grandmother he can live with and won't become part of the system."

"There is some comfort in that I suppose." Elle replied and then turned and watched as Morgan headed back towards them.

"Agent Hotchner," Detective Woods called out as he walked towards them, "We have another child-abduction, four year old boy, taken from a park, about half an hour ago, just a couple miles from here. "

 

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"A 911 operator," JJ said, clearly shaken that it had been so easy to lure the kids away, as she climbed into the backseat of the SUV, Rossi and Emily riding up front as they left the Tanner house, "that explains how he's finding his victims so easily."

Emily nodded in agreement as she pulled out her phone and called PG so she could start a search for their 911 operator.

 

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"Rossi, did you hear me?" Emily asked as she watched Rossi staring through the window with his back to her.

"Oh, uh, sorry." Rossi replied as he turned back around to face Emily.

"You know, you've been more than a little distracted the last couple of days. Something is definitely up. Is there anything you want to share?" she asked with a concerned tone of voice.

Rossi smiled as he looked at Emily and gave a half shrug, "It's nothing. Uh," he said as he sat down on the edge of the desk Emily was seated at as they waited to hear back from Penelope, "I had breakfast with Carolyn the other morning." He said.

"Oh, isn't it usually best to wait to start working on wife number five after you've divorced wife number four?" Emily teased.

"Look, let's get our facts straight." Rossi replied, "I'm not divorcing wife number four. Wife number four should have been wife number two and that's where I should have stopped in the first place."

Emily held her hand up. "Wait, the way I've heard Gideon tell it, wife number four was supposed to have been wife number one… so shouldn't that have been where you stopped?" she asked in confusion.

Rossi chuckled. "Jason likes to think he knows everything, but I was married once before I joined the FBI. Carolyn was wife numero uno. We were very young and I was still in the Marines when we were married."

"Mmmm" Emily replied with a nod.

"Use your words Emily." Rossi replied.

"There's always something about the first. In anything." Emily replied.

Rossi chuckled. "I suppose that is true. I just can't figure out what she wanted to tell me. She knows about Erin… so I know it's not like she's looking for us to get back together after all these years… I guess I'm just worried."

Emily nodded. "Just because things don't always work out like you hoped, doesn't mean you stop caring or wanting to know that the people that you care about are happy. Maybe she just wanted to touch base with you and see how things are in your life?"

Rossi nodded. "Well I did invite her over to have dinner with Erin and me when I get back."

 

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"Talk to me Mama," Morgan said as he answered the phone with the team all huddled around.

"First off, you are on restriction from my inner Lamborghini." Penelope said.

Emily raised her eyebrows, wondering what exactly PG was referencing.

Spence bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling at Morgan's dilemma.

"Penelope…" Morgan said trying to get her to stop, but she continued talking over the top of him.

"I mean it. This high performance engine may purr like a puma on the prowl, but this time Derek, you have seriously over heated my engine and I will require some cool down laps upon your return if you know what I mean by that."

Elle glanced sideways at JJ and then they both fought against the grins attempting to overtake their faces at the flagrant innuendo in Penelope's words.

A distressed look crossed Hotch's face as he sought out a way to redirect the conversation back to the case in the event that Morgan couldn't.

"Baby girl, you're on speaker." Morgan said when Penelope finally paused.

Rossi smirked as he not only listened to Penelope, but watched the reactions of the team from his position at the back of the group.

After a long pause, Penelope replied, "I knew that… I was calling to tell you, sir, that eleven 911 dispatchers in the greater Saint Louis area that were on duty when the calls were placed, but not working during the murder and abductions. Of those eleven, there's one that fits your profile. George Kelling…" Penelope said as she continued filling the team in on what she'd found.

Penelope told them that he'd shown up for his shift, but left early. It was no surprise that his last call had been a domestic incident involving a child in distress.

 

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JJ rushed over to the closet door and let Bobby out as soon as Morgan and Hotch had Kelling secured on the floor. She guided him out of the room. "Are you okay?"

Bobby nodded, still in shock over the last few days. "My Mom?" he asked as he looked up at JJ.

JJ swallowed. "I'm sorry Bobby. She didn't… George…" JJ paused at a loss for words at how to tell a nine year old little boy that his Mom had been murdered. Sure, she'd handled multiple notifications in the past as the team's media liaison, but none of the next of kin to the victim had been nine year old little boys.

"It's okay… he told me what he did… I just…" he sobbed as he turned and buried his face in the nylon covering of JJ's bullet proof vest.

JJ fought back tears herself, as she wrapped her arms around Bobby, holding him close and attempting to comfort him as he cried over losing his Mom. She glanced up and met eyes with Spence across driveway as he directed the medics into the house to work on Kelling.

 

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"So are you busy bracing yourself for whatever prank Morgan is preparing next?" JJ asked as she sat down next to Spence, who was staring out the window, and handed him a cup of tea and then curled into his side.

"Hmm?" Spence murmured as he turned away from the window. "No, I was just thinking… besides, I think Morgan will too busy giving Penelope her cool down laps to worry about pranks for a while… but if he starts again, I'm ready." Spence smiled at JJ as he nodded towards where Morgan paced while he was on the phone with Penelope and from appearances, barely able to get a word in edgewise.

JJ chuckled in amusement as she watched Morgan pace for a moment and then turned back to Spence. "You know, Timmy isn't that much older than Chloe."

Spence nodded and leaned down, kissing JJ's forehead, wondering what she was thinking and waiting to hear what she had to say.

JJ took a deep breath. "I think we need to start teaching the kids about strangers and that just because you know someone doesn't make it okay to go with them."

Spence nodded as he pulled JJ closer. "I hate to think about that happening, but you're right we need to make sure we teach them. Maybe since Halloween is coming up, it's a good time to bring it up. And speaking of teaching… could you please teach me about shoes… I don't understand why it was such a big deal to Morgan that Marlene Smith only owned four pairs of shoes."

"You don't…" JJ trailed off as she looked up at her husband perplexed. "Baby, how many pairs of shoes do I own?"

"Way more than four." Spence replied. "Exponentially more than four. In fact, that's what I told Morgan… but I don't understand how many shoes is enough. If she would have had five pairs of shoes in her closet, would that have been enough?"

JJ smiled and shook her head. "You're a smart boy baby. I bet if you think about it, you can figure it out." She said rubbing his chest as she rested her head against his shoulder. "So what should we do for Halloween costumes? We need to get everything pulled together in the next few days."

"I don't know. Henry doesn't seem to have a preference on costumes." Spence replied as he played with JJ's hair.

JJ nodded. "Well, I'm sure we can figure something out." She replied and then yawned, allowing herself to drift off to sleep as Spence continued to play with her hair.

Spence sat staring off into space as he attempted to puzzle out just how many shoes was the correct number for a woman to own as he continued to play with JJ's hair.

 

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The rest of the team smirked as they followed JJ and Reid out of the bullpen. Reid had been quiet on the whole flight home, as if he was trying to solve a calculus problem in his head. As it turns out, he'd been thinking about women's shoes.

"JJ, would you please just tell me?" Spence pleaded as they walked down the hallway.

"What is Reid begging JJ to tell him?" Penelope stage whispered to Morgan.

Morgan chuckled. "Pretty boy is trying to understand why women own so many shoes." He replied as he rubbed the side of Penelope's pregnant belly, smiling when the baby kicked into his hand.

"Ah" Penelope nodded in understanding.

"How about ten pairs of shoes, that has to be enough right? Ten?" Spence asked JJ as they led the rest of the team down the hallway to the elevators.

"Ugh, Spence, it's different with the ladies. We need them to match our belts, our handbags, our skirts, and fashions change with the seasons." JJ said as she looked at her husband.

 

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"David?" Erin paused as she came down the stairs, having heard Carolyn leave. She'd given Carolyn and David some time to speak alone; she'd sensed that a private conversation between the two of them was needed after dinner. "David, are you alright?" she asked as she took in the sight of her husband leaning against the door, his face buried in the crook of his arm. Concerned, she moved to join him, her hand resting gently on his back.

Dave let out a shuddering breath and turned to face his wife with tears in his eyes.

"David, what is it?" Erin asked, now even more concerned.

Dave swallowed. "Carolyn has ALS. She asked me to help her end her life on her own terms when the time comes."

Erin gasped, one hand rising to cover her mouth for just a moment. Then she wrapped both of her arms around David, holding him as he sobbed into her neck.


	23. Chapter 23

Spence moaned as he lifted his head to look at the clock. Thankfully it was still the middle of the night. He lowered his head back down, snuggling more deeply against the naked expanse of JJ's back. He kissed his way across her shoulder before nuzzling his face into her neck as his head settled on the pillow.

"Mmm what time's it?" JJ mumbled, half asleep.

"Shh, it's the middle of the night still. Go back to sleep. We don't have to be up for hours yet." Spence murmured softly.

"Hmm good. Too comfy and warm to get up." JJ replied softly as she turned in Spence's arms and snuggled into his chest, her arm wrapping around his ribs as she kissed the center of his chest.

Spence rolled to his back, bringing JJ with him to rest in the crook of his shoulder as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head and ran his hand up and down her back. "Me too, JJ, me too. I love you."

"Mmm love you too baby." JJ replied softly in her half asleep voice as her legs tangled with Spence's to get comfortable. Then they drifted back to sleep snuggled up in each other's arms.

 

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"Okay we have a green dress and green shoes for Chloe's Tinkerbelle costume." JJ said as she looked down at her list, "and you already have the fairy wings that Aunt Penelope got you so I think you are all set sweetie." JJ said as she looked down at Chloe in the shopping cart she was pushing. "How about you little man? What do you want to be?" JJ asked as she turned to look at Henry where he sat in the shopping cart Spence was pushing.

Henry shrugged. "I no know."

"Do you want to be Nemo or maybe Squirt?" Spence asked as they stopped in front of some animal costumes.

Henry scrunched his face up as he turned to look at the costumes Daddy was looking at that came in a variety of sizes. Some of the costumes were very small. "No," Henry shook his head, "Dey baby cosumes. I not a baby."

JJ sighed a little sadly under her breath at just how quickly her babies were growing up. It was hard to believe in the next several weeks Henry would be turning three and Chloe would be turning four. "Okay little man, what do you want to be then?" she asked, pausing to glance at Josh who was sound asleep against her chest in the baby carrier.

Henry's little blonde head turned from side to side as he scanned the shelves on both sides of the aisle. Then he gasped when he saw the best big boy costume. "I be dat." He said pointing to a spot on the shelf.

"Are you sure?" JJ asked as she moved to look at what he was pointing at.

Henry nodded eagerly. "Uh huh."

"Good choice buddy." Spence said holding up his hand as Henry slapped it for a high five.

JJ smiled as she sorted through the costumes on the rack to find the right size for Henry and turned to glance at Spence. "You know this gives me a great idea for our costumes and for Josh's." She said winking at Spence at the thought of him in tights… tight tights.

 

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"Hey pretty boy, I stopped and got coffee this morning. Here you go man." Morgan said as he walked into the bullpen and sat a cup of Starbucks coffee on Reid's desk before taking a seat at his own desk with his own coffee, watching and waiting for Reid to take a sip of the coffee that Morgan had 'enhanced'.

"Thanks man." Reid replied, not looking away from the case file that he was currently engrossed in.

"You're welcome." Morgan replied with a large smirk on his face as he turned towards his own towering stack of files as Emily and JJ walked back into the bullpen from the break room.

"Morgan, you went to Starbucks and didn't bring us back anything?" Emily asked glumly as she glanced down at the doctored dark wicked brew in her coffee cup and then to the tall crisp white cup of real coffee sitting on Morgan's desk. "So not fair." she grumbled and then sat down at her desk.

JJ patted Emily on the shoulder, sitting on the edge of Emily's desk as Spence spoke.

"Hey Elle," Reid said as he looked up from his file and over the divider between his cubicle and Elle's, "can you take a look at this and let me know what you think?" he asked as he held a file over the divider.

"Sure Reid… what am I looking for?" Elle asked.

"If it's what I think, you'll know it when you see it. I just want a second pair of eyes to check it for me." Reid replied, standing up and taking the last sip of from his coffee mug as he stretched his legs after sitting and focusing on the file he'd been working on since they got here this morning.

"Hey, how do you rate that Morgan brought you coffee but not the rest of us?" JJ asked as she looked at the Starbucks sitting on Reid's desk.

Spence shrugged as he picked up the Starbucks cup from his desk and lifted it to his lips taking a large sip. His eyes went wide as he swallowed and he began to cough and sputter.

Morgan giggled and snickered as he watched the effects of the habanero pepper surprise he'd put in Reid's coffee.

"Spence, baby, are you okay?" JJ asked, standing up and stepping across the aisle to pat and rub his back, thinking that he'd swallowed wrong or that some of the coffee had gone down his windpipe.

Spence sat the coffee back on his desk as turned to look at Morgan. "What did you do to the coffee?" he managed to get out as a barely audible whisper as his throat burned and his eyes watered.

"That's for me to know kid and you to try to figure out." Morgan laughed.

"Spence, what's wrong with the coffee?" JJ asked as she picked up the cup and pulled off the lid sniffing to see if she could figure out what was wrong.

"It's hot. Not temperature hot, but on the Scoville Scale hot…wait… you used capsaicin didn't you?" Reid asked.

"I what now?" Morgan asked chuckling that even as tears were streaming down Reid's face and his nose was starting to run, that he was clearly still a genius with his big words.

"Peppers… hot peppers... that's what you put in here. What did this coffee ever do to you?" Reid rasped woefully as he took the coffee cup from JJ and then headed for the break room so he could drink a tall glass of milk and dump the ruined cup of coffee down the drain.

JJ glanced at Morgan shook her head and then turned and followed after Spence, wanting to make sure he was really okay.

Morgan chuckled and turned back to his stack of files wondering how many he could slip into Reid's stack while he was gone.

"Awfully proud of yourself aren't you?" Elle asked with a raised eyebrow as she turned to look at Morgan.

Emily turned to look at Morgan as well and crossed her arms. This was going to be good.

"Aw come on now, it was just an innocent little prank. Reid's going to fine. A little habanero pepper never killed anyone." Morgan said with a school boy grin on his face.

"Clearly you've forgotten how Reid feels about his coffee." Emily replied with a shake of her head.

"I…" Morgan paused in thought, realizing that he might have just upped the game in this prank war. "Do you think I went too far?" he asked looking back and forth between Emily and Elle.

"With this prank no, but…" Elle trailed off.

"Wait, what do you mean with this prank?" Morgan asked.

"Well," Elle said turning to look at Morgan. "I'm wondering if you're stopping to think about what you're doing."

"They're just some harmless pranks Elle." Morgan replied with a puzzled look on his face. "No harm, no foul."

Elle nodded. "And I'm sure you and Reid are both seeing it that way, but Morgan how many times has someone on this team been in the cross hairs of an unsub?"

"What does that have to do with our prank war?" Morgan asked.

Elle raised an eyebrow. "Oh, maybe the fact that you gave Reid's cell phone number out to the general public where anybody, and I mean anybody could get it all they'd have to do is a little research now and find the news clip where you gave out Reid's cell phone number. How many times while JJ was the media liaison did she ever give out her personal cell phone number?"

Morgan's eyes went wide. "Never… she never… it was always a local PD number or an 800 number… oh shit." Morgan said as he ran his hand over his head at the realization of the mistake he'd made. "I didn't even think about…"

Elle knew that Morgan hadn't thought about it or he wouldn't have done it. "Morgan, relax, I'm sure it will be okay. I don't think anybody else thought it was an issue either. Just make sure you're more careful with whatever else you have planned."

Morgan nodded, as he turned to look at his desk and pulled a file off the stack, suddenly not having the heart to add any files to Reid's stack at the moment.

 

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"Spence, baby what are you doing to those potatoes with the drill?" JJ asked, stopping and watching in confusion as Spence stood at the kitchen counter drilling holes in potatoes with an electric drill.

Spence turned off the drill and turned to look at JJ over his shoulder. "I'm going to make Morgan's truck whistle."

"You're going to make his truck whistle?" JJ asked in confusion as she looked from Spence to the potatoes with holes in them to try and figure out how they played into the next prank.

"Yep," Spence said as he turned and leaned against the counter. He pulled a whistle out of his pocket and fitted it into the hole on one end of the potato. Then he pressed his lips to the other end of the potato and blew. "The potato goes in the tail pipe of his truck and then the exhaust blows through the potato and out the whistle. It should take him a while to figure out why his truck is whistling."

"Will he figure it out before his exhaust pipe turns that into a baked potato?" JJ asked, chuckling as she nodded at the potato in Spence's hand.

 

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Spence grinned into his coffee cup as he listened to Morgan talking to Anderson and some of the other guys in the office about his whistling truck.

"Did you check the belts?" one of the agents huddled around Morgan's desk asked.

Morgan shook his head. "Yeah, the belts are fine. There in good shape and have the proper tension."

"Does it happen when you're slowing down? Maybe it's the squealers on your brakes?" Anderson said.

"I just had new brakes put on a few months ago." Morgan replied.

"Is it constant? Does it only happen when your truck is moving? Maybe you have a leaf stuck in a vent or your air filter?" Another one of the agents suggested.

"I checked those too." Morgan said with a shake of his head.

Spence snickered into his coffee cup, enjoying that he'd stumped Morgan since putting the whistling potato in the tail pipe of Morgan's truck last night, and then quickly schooled his expression as he looked back at the file so as not to give himself away.

"Sounds like your water pump might be out?" yet another agent suggested.

"What if it's something simple like a bad seal on your windshield?" Anderson asked.

Morgan shook his head. "I'm going to go for a drive over lunch and see if I can figure out what it is. I didn't have time last night or this morning. I'll keep all that stuff in mind while I listen for the noise again." He said as the group dispersed and headed back to their desks.

 

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Reid grinned as he watched Morgan storm across the bullpen juggling a potato between his hands.

"Reid, you want to explain to me why there was a potato in the tail pipe of my truck?" Morgan asked as he came to a stop next to Reid and sat the potato down on his desk.

Reid smirked and grabbed the couple of sour cream packets he'd brought back from the commissary next to the potato sitting on his desk. "I'm sorry did you want some sour cream to go with your baked potato?"

Morgan stared down at the potato and sour cream for a moment before he swiped them both into the garbage can.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk" Reid shook his head while clicking his tongue, "Shame on you for not eating your lunch Morgan. Potatoes are high in Vitamin C, potassium, and have protein." He said a wide grin growing on his face.

Morgan glowered at his teammate and then turned on his heels and headed for the doors of the bullpen.

"Okay genius," Elle said turning back in her chair to look at Reid as Morgan walked out the double glass doors, "what's with the baked potato?"

"Well you see," Reid paused as leaned down and pulled the potato out of the garbage can. He held the potato up so that they could see the whistle sticking out of one end and then began explaining how he'd turned the exhaust pipe on Morgan's truck into an industrial sized whistle.

Hotch chuckled as he stood listening to Reid tell the girls about how he'd made Morgan's truck whistle. He shook his head as he turned to look at Rossi who was not laughing, but rather staring off into space. He wasn't sure was going on with his longtime friend and mentor, but he'd been off for the last few days. However, he knew better than to try to push Dave into talking about it. He'd talk about it when he was ready.

 

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"I sooo don't miss that face." JJ said as she sat on the edge of Elle's desk watching Penelope telling Hotch about a case as she handed him a file. "No matter how many cases we solve, there's always more." She said as she turned away from the window of Hotch's office to look at Elle and Emily, who was standing behind Elle and next to JJ.

Elle nodded in agreement as the three of them sat watching Hotch's office, contemplating how bad this case would be. "You know, knowing what you did, why didn't you accept Hotch's offer to become a profiler back when he first offered?" Elle asked, turning to look at JJ.

JJ glanced about the bullpen, taking note that all of the people not on their team were busy and not paying attention and then shrugged. "I guess I was too concerned about not changing things too much. What if I had accepted and then been assigned to a different team? What if I had accepted and not been in the right place at the right time to change something?"

Elle nodded in agreement, completely understanding and appreciative since JJ and Reid had been able to change her fate for the better.

"Insert Dr. Reid's explanation of 'The Butterfly Effect' and causality here." Emily said, pointing at Reid with her thumb as she continued to watch PG and Aaron through the window of his office.

At no response from Reid, all three women turned to look at him.

"Reid?" Emily said curiously as they watched him staring contemplatively across the room.

"Something you'd care to share with the rest of the class?" Elle asked from where she sat.

JJ whistled to get her husband's attention; "Speeeeeencer," She called dragging his name out in a soft sing song voice.

Reid held up his finger as he continued to look straight ahead. "There's something wrong." He said softly, his gaze never wavering.

"Why do you say that?" JJ asked as she spun around on Elle's desk to see what Spence was looking at to find that it was Dave Rossi reading the newspaper.

"He's been reading the same page for sixteen minutes and twenty four seconds." Reid said as he stood up from his chair and sat on the edge of his desk.

"Maybe it's a really good article." Emily said as she turned around and moved so Elle would be able to see as well.

"It's never taken him longer than eleven minutes seventeen seconds to turn a page." Reid replied.

"You time how long it takes…" Emily said trailing off as JJ turned to look at her as if to say, 'this is my husband we're talking about. Of course he times how long it takes all of us to read a page.' Emily swallowed her shock. "What's your theory?"

"I'm extrapolating probabilities as we speak." Reid said as he stood up from the edge of the desk, watching his watch as he walked across the bullpen toward where Rossi sat.

The girls decided this could be entertaining and followed after Reid. At the same time that Reid, Elle, Emily, and JJ were crossing the bullpen, Morgan entered through the double glass doors.

"Oh, hey Rossi, do you think you could help me with a consult for Wildwood PD?" Morgan asked after shifting his path to where Rossi sat in the bullpen from where he'd been heading for Rossi's office.

"Oh sure," Rossi answered in a subdued tone as he sat his newspaper of to the side.

"Now that I noticed." JJ said, her hands tucked into her pockets, as the team except for Hotch and Penelope huddled around where Rossi sat in the bullpen.

"Somethin' goin' on?" Morgan asked as he studied Rossi's facial expression.

"How did it go the other night?" Emily asked curious as to how dinner could have gone with his first ex-wife and current wife.

"What happened the other night?" Morgan asked curious what Emily knew that he didn't.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked.

Rossi looked around at the majority of the team, feeling like a deer in the headlights. "And why wouldn't I be?" he asked managing to muster a slight bit of bravado into his response.

JJ glanced over her shoulder at Emily and then at Elle who stood next to her. "You seem distracted."

"I'm considering a purch… ase." Rossi said, trailing off as he looked down at the newspaper to find that it showed and ad for Second Life Thrift Store.

Elle quirked an eyebrow. From her spot next to JJ, she could clearly see the newspaper. "Mm hm, because I can totally see you spending a lot of your shopping time at the Second Life Thrift Store."

Morgan nodded. "Come on man, what's really goin' on?" he asked.

Rossi sighed and then stood up from his chair. "Look, Tim and I had a late night with Ringo and not enough coffee. I mean the Beatles are legends, but don't think that with me on drums and Tim on guitar that we didn't wipe the floor with them in Rockband. Please don't say anything to Erin. She'd kill me if she knew how late I let Tim stay up on a school night."

"Alright, what do you think?" JJ asked as she attempted to use her still relatively new profiler skills to figure out if Rossi was lying or telling the truth.

"He could be telling the truth…" Emily said, trailing off as she tipped her head.

"But he could be lying." Elle added as she too studied him, attempting to discern the answer.

"I can't tell." Reid added as he studied Rossi's expression and mannerisms.

"And you never will," Rossi replied pointing his finger at Reid, glad that his many years as a profiler had helped him cover, if only just barely, what was really going on from the team.

"Let's get started." Hotch said from the mezzanine as Penelope followed behind him on their way to the round table room.

 

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"Kay, this is Ridge Canyon Lake in California's Angeles National Forest," Penelope said, pulling the case up on the screen as the team filed into the round table room, "which is a popular destination for water sport enthusiasts. Unfortunately, some campers have discovered someone has chosen murder as their sport of choice."

 

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"Anything?" JJ asked as she looked up from hanging up the phone to where Rossi was walking into the office after interviewing Phinny Scirvin, the older brother of Nick Scirvin, that morning's victim.

"Unsub blends in with a younger crowd. I'd say we're looking at mid-twenties to early thirties." He said as he sat down on the edge of the desk JJ was sitting at. "You?"

"Well he's methodical. Social too. He's been able to isolate all of his victims. The mother of Jake Shepherd, our first victim, said there were several members of the church at the lake that day," JJ said as she stood up from behind the desk and led Rossi over to the case board where Elle stood looking at everything in thought, "but Jake was the only one with brown hair who matched the age preference of the unsub."

"Nick's brother Phinny's a brunette and he's a lot like these guys. Why not go after him?" Rossi asked as he looked from JJ to Elle.

"I don't know." JJ said as she nodded at the case board that now held the details of four victims. "He chose Nick Scirvin for a reason. We need to figure out why."

Elle tipped her head, looking over all the victims and shook her head. "It doesn't make sense. Emily was right on the plane. Nick's build and features are completely different from the previous three victims. So what changed? The victims can't represent someone… if they did he wouldn't have chosen Nick."

"Okay," Rossi nodded, "let's go with that thought, if the victims don't represent someone how is picking them?"

Elle's eyes flitted over the evidence board. "You said Nick's brother Phinny looked a lot like these guys, right?"

"Yeah, a lot like them actually." Rossi said as he turned to look at the pictures of the first three victims.

"But Phinny and the other guys were out on the water when Nick was attacked…" Elle said as she tipped her head in thought.

"What are you thinking Elle?" JJ asked.

"I think it's about opportunity. The who doesn't matter. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Well then we better hope we can figure out the why in a hurry." Rossi replied.

 

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"Looks like we're definitely looking at a sadist." Morgan said as he turned away from the evidence board. "He has to resuscitate his victims until he can't bring them back again." He said, taking a sip of his tea as he finished speaking.

"So why the change from choking to multiple drowning?" JJ asked as she looked around at the group.

"With the damage to Jake's throat, the unsub wasn't able to successfully resuscitate him." Reid explained.

"He's evolving and learning from each kill." Elle said as she looked at the evidence board. "The resuscitation must be what's important to him. He made a mistake with Jake. He choked him to death. The damage to Jake's throat prevented him from being able to revive Jake… so he started blitz attacking. He needs them alive so he can drown them and bring them back."

"Resuscitating them makes him feel more powerful." Hotch said as he looked down at the file in his hands.

"Which means he has no power in his everyday life." Rossi added from where he sat.

"What's interesting with the change in victimology is that Nick Scirvin was the smallest, but he had the most defensive wounds on his body." Emily pointed out as she walked over to the evidence board.

"He fought back the most." Hotch replied as he looked up from the case file.

"What if the unsub was injured in one of the attacks. He's targeting easier prey to complete his end game." Rossi theorized. Then his cell phone began ringing in his pocket. "Excuse me." He said after pulling the phone out of his pocket and seeing who it was that was calling.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rossi sat in the dark office with the blinds closed and the door shut as he stared at his phone, when there was a knock on the door.

Emily opened the door and opened her mouth as if to ask Rossi a question, but then paused as she took in his demeanor. "I take it that wasn't Ringo inviting you and Tim to another party on the phone yesterday." She said as she closed the door behind her.

Rossi sat his phone on the desk and then clasped his hands as he took a deep breath. "It was Carolyn. She has ALS."

Emily's jaw dropped in shock. Of all the things she'd expected to hear Rossi tell her about having his ex-wife over for dinner with his current wife; that had not been one of them. She let out the breath she was holding. "Rossi, um," she said struggling to find the words as she made her way over to the nearest chair, "what do you need?" she asked as she sat down.

"It's not what I need Emily. It's what she's asking me to do." He replied as he tapped his fingertips together.

Emily studied Rossi's face in confusion.

Rossi sat up, leaning his elbows on the desk. "The disease is acting quickly. Carolyn is already suffering and she doesn't want to go out that way. She wants to die on her own terms." He explained.

Emily nodded in understanding and sympathy.

Rossi swallowed. "And when this case is over, and we get back," he paused, "she asked if I would help her do it."

Emily drew in a shocked breath at what Carolyn was requesting of Rossi. She licked her lips, trying to find words. "What are you gonna do?"

Rossi gave a solemn half shrug. "I don't have a choice." He responded in a quiet voice.

Emily nodded wishing that this case were over so that she, Aaron, and Rossi could share a bottle of Scotch. It seemed like Rossi needed his friends. She suddenly found herself very glad that Rossi had married Erin Strauss. She personally didn't like Erin and probably never would given their history; but she could also see that the old battle axe was good for Rossi, cared for him… loved and supported him even. And that was something that she did like. No one should have to go through something like this alone without support.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What if there's a religious or spiritual motivation to why the unsub is doing this?" Morgan asked after Reid telling them the unsub had cancer of the blood and was dying and their conversation about how Jake Shepherd was with his congregation at the lake for a baptism and how water burials could be seen as a baptism.

Hotch pulled his phone out of his pocket and set it on the table in between JJ and Reid after hitting the speed dial for Penelope and the speakerphone.

"Speak and be heard." Penelope said in her normal cheerful chipper voice.

"Penelope, I need you to pull a list of patients in the area with any form of blood cancer." Hotch said.

"I will make HIPPA my bitch sir." She said as her fingers started typing.

"I also need information on Jake Shepherd. Religious ties, spiritual background, anything." Hotch continued.

"Ah well that information will make for a fast search. Give me a mo." She said as she multi-tasked, her fingers tapping across the keys as she started multiple searches running. "Spiritual… something heaven sent other than my angelic self… Bam. Whoa!"

JJ turned to look at the phone at Penelope's exclamation, knowing that whatever Penelope had found would definitely shed light on the case.

"Jake Shepherd joined the church after a near death experience changed his life." Penelope explained as she read the newspaper article from her screen.

"What happened to him?" Hotch asked.

"He was in an ATV accident. He coded for four minutes. He was life lighted to LA where they managed to revive him. But clinically he did die."

"Death and resuscitation. That sounds a little too similar to our unsub's MO to be a coincidence." JJ said.

"Alright, Penelope, dig deeper." Hotch said, "Jake Shepherd's death wasn't random."

"It is on like Obi Wan. Garcia out." Penelope replied as she hung up.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So a terminally ill unsub targets a man who came back from the dead and then starts killing repeatedly." Morgan said laying out what they now knew. "I mean am I crazy or is this about a guy trying to come to terms with his own death?"

"Yeah, but finding out you're going to die isn't enough to make someone a psychopath." Hotch said as he turned around from looking at the evidence board.

"But it does explain why he stopped strangling his victims. Just like Elle thought… he stopped strangling because it wasn't working…How do you find out about death?" Reid asked.

"You ask someone who died." JJ replied as the pieces of the case suddenly fell into place.

"If this unsub is so obsessed with death then Jake Shepherd was the perfect person to talk to. He'd been there and back again." Hotch said as he stood with his arms crossed while the team discussed what they knew so far.

"Come on guys," Morgan said, "gentle lights, shadowy figures. Those are the lights in the emergency room and the doctors hovering over the patients and we all know that. No one ever actually sees the 'after life'" Morgan argued as he made quotes marks in the air with his fingers at after life as the team looked on, all with varying expressions of agreement or disagreement on their faces.

"I did." Reid said from where he stood leaning against a pillar, drawing the attention of the entire team. "Before Tobias Hankel resuscitated me, I had that exact experience and I wasn't in an emergency room, I was in a shed."

"Reid, you never told me that." Morgan said as he looked up at Reid in shock.

"I'm a man of science, but there are some things in this world that science can't explain." Reid said as he looked over to where JJ sat at the table, "In that moment, I was faced with one of those unexplainable things… I might not be able to explain it, but with everything else that we've seen… everything else that I know," he continued while maintaining eye contact with JJ, "I have to believe."

JJ swallowed, Spence had never told her about what happened when he died in the shed… but she couldn't help but wonder.

Morgan closed his eyes and looked down, thinking of everything that he'd seen in the last couple of years… and everything he knew about the few years before that. After everything that he'd been through in his life, he had a hard time believing… but Reid raised a valid point. "You're right Reid, I wasn't thinking about any of that… but you're right."

"What if this unsub has had a similar experience and this is his way of looking for answers?" Hotch asked.

"If that's the case, why kill Jake Shepherd? Why not just talk to him?" Rossi asked.

Everyone paused at Rossi's questions, looking at each other as they tried to figure out what their unsub's thought process was.

"I don't know," Morgan said shaking his head, "but resuscitation is hit or miss. He can't actually guarantee that he can bring anyone back, let alone remember what happened at the moment of their death."

"Reid what's the best way to make sure his victims had an experience?" Rossi asked.

"Keep them dead longer." Reid replied.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey," JJ whispered softly as Spence settled into the seat next to her on the jet. She reached up, running her fingers through his still damp hair and leaned over to kiss him. After she pulled back, she shook out the blanket she'd grabbed and wrapped it around herself and Spence as she snuggled into his side.

Spence sighed contentedly as JJ snuggled into his side and tucked the blanket around them. He shifted in his seat getting comfortable as he rested his cheek on the top of JJ's head.

"Spence?" JJ murmured quietly.

"Yeah?" Spence whispered back.

"What you saw… when you were…" JJ stumbled over her words, wanting to know, but at the same time not wanting to talk about Spence being dead.

Spence lifted his head and then cupped JJ's cheek and jaw as he tipped her face to meet his gaze. "Is this about what I told the team?" he asked softly. Morgan had commented that he'd never told Morgan… but he'd also never told JJ about what he'd experienced in that shed in the time between gasping for breath and Tobias reviving him.

JJ bit her lower lip and nodded.

Spence stroked his thumb across his wife's cheek bone. "What is it?"

JJ cleared her throat. "Well… do you think… maybe… baby could it have been…" she cleared her throat again as her eyes teared up.

"Baby, it's okay. I'm here and I'm fine. Georgia was years ago." Spence whispered.

JJ nodded. "I was just wondering if you thought that maybe the figure you saw was Jason." She whispered so softly that he could barely hear her.

Spence swallowed and leaned down to rest his forehead against JJ's. "I don't know… I couldn't really make out who it was that I was seeing… but it having been Jason is a nice thought… and I'd like to think it was him." He murmured in reply. At the time Tobias had held him in the shed, JJ hadn't known who Jason was, other than her guardian angel… but the thought that their son had also been watching over him… it was a pleasant one.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dave smiled a bittersweet smile at Erin as they sat together on the blanket in front of Carolyn and James' graves as he thought about his last conversation with Carolyn.

"Do you think he'll be there?" she asked, the drugs she'd taken already affecting her voice as she leaned against David's shoulder as he comforted her. 

"I know he will." David replied in a somewhat shaky voice as he fought back his tears. He'd come to tell Carolyn that he couldn't help her, that life was worth fighting for, but knowing him as she did, she'd taken the overdose of medication before he arrived, knowing that he wouldn't be able to help her, but wanting him to be with her in her last moments.

"Are you alright David?" Erin asked softly as she squeezed his hand and rubbed his back, wanting to make sure he was okay, but not wanting to intrude on his thoughts of Carolyn and James.

Dave nodded as looked at James' grave, pulling himself from the thoughts of what might have been he turned to look at Erin. "I will be." He replied as he squeezed her hand.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... has it really been over a year since The Roads Series got updated? I assure, that was not supposed to happen... I got stuck... other stories came up... and of course as sometimes happens, real life threw me a few curve balls and got in the way. My promise to never leave a story unfinished stands... they might occasionally be delayed, but I promise they will always get finished eventually!
> 
> I can hear you all squeeing about the update from here - so I'll cut it short. Let's get on with why you clicked on the link for this in the first place!
> 
> As always, happy reading and enjoy. :D

* * *

Spence rolled over, his eyes popping wide open at the realization that it was officially his favorite day of the year. Halloween!

He rolled over to JJ's side of the bed and wrapped his arm around her and kissed her shoulder. He kissed his way across her shoulder and proceeded to press soft lingering kisses along the column of her neck.

JJ moaned, pulled from sweet blissful sleep. "Speeeeeeeence, whaaa…ungh… still dark…go back 'a sleep." She mumbled into her pillow.

"But JJ, don't you know what day it is?" Spence asked in an eager tone of voice.

JJ half groaned, half chuckled into her pillow. Of course she knew what day it was; it was the day her husband turned into a five year old every year. She grinned into her pillow at how utterly adorable it was to see him as excited as a five year old on a sugar rush running down to see what Santa had brought on Christmas morning. She rolled over onto her back and leaned up to kiss Spence softly on the lips. "Happy Halloween baby."

"We should probably get up. We have a lot to do today. I need to get the garage ready and we need to double check our costumes and," Spence rambled excitedly.

JJ twisted to look at the alarm clock. 5 am! "Spence, baby," she reached up pressing her finger to his lips to silence him. "I know Halloween is your favorite holiday and you're excited… but it's only 5am. Can we at least sleep until the kids wake up? Besides, if we get up now everybody is going to crash way too early. You know unlike the kids we won't be able to squeeze nap time in later." JJ asked, cautiously removing her finger from his lips so he could respond.

"But there's so much to do…" he started to argue.

"And I'll help. We have the day off from work and so does everybody else. They're all coming over to help out with decorating and getting everything set up. Right now we need sleep. Did you forget we were just up with Josh a couple hours ago?"

Spence nodded in agreement. "I sure hope that new tooth pops through soon." He said with a glance at the clock, "Okay, more sleep… promise we'll get everything done in time?"

JJ chuckled. "This is the kids' first Halloween party. They aren't going to notice if everything isn't perfect, but yes we'll have everything done in time especially with everyone coming over to help."

"Okay," Spence sighed somewhat petulantly as he flopped back down on the pillow, hoping he fell back asleep quickly and the next couple of hours until the kids woke up went by quickly.

* * *

"Bless you Emily Prentiss Hotchner!" JJ exclaimed as she took the proffered cup of coffee from her friends hand as she entered the garage. She lifted the cup to her lips, her eyes closed in enjoyment and a throaty moan escaping as the delightfully caffeinated brew slipped across her tongue.

Emily chuckled at her friend's reaction to the first sip of coffee. "I don't know that I've ever seen you enjoy coffee this much before."

JJ opened her eyes as she lowered her cup, "I've never had an excited four year old and three year old at Halloween before… not to mention a teething seven month old. Throw in a husband who is as excited as a five year old at the prospect of a Halloween party, not to mention Halloween in general and it was a very short night."

Emily grinned, "Well then it's a good thing the reinforcements are here to help set up." she said with a nod to the driveway where most of the rest of the team were approaching.

"You look tired blondie. What's a matter, pretty boy wear you out last night?" Morgan asked as he flashed a wicked grin at JJ.

JJ grinned and decided to fight back. "Why do you need some pointers from Spence on stamina, Morgan?"

Penelope licked her lips, perking up at the thought of increasing his stamina as she rubbed her five month pregnant belly. "JJ, does Reid have some pointers that would help? You are totally telling me later."

Elle laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Spence yawned as he entered the garage.

Emily grinned. "JJ was just pointing out to Morgan that his stamina might be lacking. Coffee?" she asked innocently as she handed the last remaining cup of coffee from the carrier.

Hotch chuckled and shook his head, knowing this was just what his team needed right now.

"Rossi isn't coming?" Elle asked as she turned to look at Hotch after getting her laughter under control.

Hotch shook his head. "No, he had to meet with the mortuary. The stone is going to be placed in a few days and he wants to make sure that it's correct."

An air of sadness passed over the group of agents as they thought of everything their friend and teammate had been through in the last week with the death of his first wife… and all of them appreciated the fact that his fourth wife, Erin was there to support him.

"Well, we better get everything set up." Emily said as she turned and looked at the pile of decorations to be put up.

* * *

"See Aunt 'nelope?" Chloe said excitedly as she showed her Godmother her pouch of "pixie dust" and shook her fairy wings.

"That's terrific Chloe. You make a perfect Tinkerbelle." Penelope gave a nod of approval as she looked down at her Goddaughter. "And what about you Henry, what are you?"

"I'm a pirate!" Henry said as he stood proudly in his tri-corner hat and red coat.

"I see that! I bet you are going to be the best pirate ever… oh my…" Penelope trailed off as JJ and Reid came out into the garage in their costumes, and then she giggled. "That is absolutely fantastic!" she shrieked with glee in realization of the family costume plan that JJ had refused to share no matter how much she begged and pled at seeing Joshua in a fuzzy crocodile costume.

"Nice legs pretty boy!" Morgan called out from across the garage when he saw Reid and JJ make their appearance.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Spence mumbled softly as he followed JJ, dressed as Wendy Darling into the garage.

"You make a perfect Peter Pan Spence. Besides, Chloe and Henry are getting a kick out of it." She murmured, appeasing him as she rested her hand his arm, her fingers lightly running up and down, "Not to mention, I think you look fabulous dress all in green… and in tights," she purred as she eyed him up in down, enjoying the view Spence was displaying in his green tights and tunic.

Spence swallowed heavily at JJ flirting with him and then smiled as he watched the kids all running and playing together. "Yeah, okay." He said with a smile as Chloe and Avery compared their fairy and princess costumes.

* * *

Emily laughed as she watched Declan showing Jack how to bob for apples without getting his tie wet. It had only been a couple of months since Louise's death and Declan's kidnapping, but Emily never ceased to be amazed at the resiliency of children. Yes, she'd heard Declan crying in his room and comforted him, but there were quickly becoming more happy times than sad times. When offered the option, Declan had decided that as much as he would miss his friends in the dorms and on the lacrosse team that he would prefer to live at home rather than going to boarding school. Emily couldn't help but get lost in the adorable memory from a couple of weeks ago….

_Emily paused in the doorway when she saw Declan and Jack sitting together on the floor of Declan's room double checking their gear bags, Jack for soccer and Declan for lacrosse._

_"Declan, what should we be for Halloween?" Jack asked as he copied Declan in checking the gear in his bag even though Daddy had helped him pack it just a few minutes ago._

_Declan paused in checking to make sure all of his pads and gear were in his bag and looked at Jack. "Well… what did you dress up as last year?"_

_A wide smile grew on Jack face as he excitedly answered, "My favorite super hero!"_

_"Yeah? Spiderman or Captain America?" Declan asked, knowing Jack's favorites._

_Jack shook his head, "No, I dressed up as Daddy!"_

_Declan tipped his head in thought, the idea of the team that had saved him from his kidnappers as super heroes in disguise put a new spin on things… but it certainly made sense to him. He'd been young at the time, but he remembered Emily having him play dead… and now years later he understood why she'd done that… to save him. "Why don't we do that again? You and I can both dress up as agents?"_

_"Yeah?" Jack asked excited at the prospect of his new brother dressing up with him._

Emily smiled at the memory as she watched the kids all running around and having fun.

"Penny for your thoughts," Aaron whispered in her ear as he stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Emily sighed deeply as she sank back in his arms, her back pressing against his hard, firm chest. "I was just thinking about how well Declan is blending into the family."

Aaron nodded, knowing what a rough couple of months it had been for his now oldest son and happy to see that Jack and Declan had bonded.

* * *

"Are you dancing buddy?" Will asked as he watched Billy bouncing on his legs and shaking his butt in his Tiger costume.

"Clearly he got his dancing skills from you," Elle said with a grin as she watched Billy dance, "those are definitely your moves." She teased.

"I ain't never had any complaints cher." Will replied as he eyed his wife up and down, "an' I'm more than happy to offer you a refresher course when we get home tonight."

* * *

"What are you snickerin' at baby girl?" Derek asked as he sat down next to Penelope and handed her the glass of water she'd asked for.

"I was just enjoying the sight of the bossman's three mini-mes." Penelope said as she turned away from the sight of Declan, Jack, and Seth in their suits and ties. "It's so fun to see all of the kids all dressed up in their costumes." She said as she watched Jake the fireman and Henry the pirate playing together.

Derek smiled, "Just think this time next year they'll be another pretty little girl for you to dress up in a princess dress and fairy wings." He said nodding to where Chloe and Avery danced around in their costumes while he rubbed Penelope's five month baby bump.

"hmmm, I can't wait… and apparently she can't either!" Penelope exclaimed, grabbing her husband's hand and sliding it across her belly to the spot where the baby was currently kicking.

* * *

"Oh, all of our babies look soooo cute!" Penelope clapped enthusiastically as the girls stood together watching all the kids all play, pausing only to rub her hand over her belly as the baby kicked. "This was a great idea Jayje, I'm glad we all got together to take the kids out trick or treating for a little bit before coming back here for the party."

JJ nodded, "Well most of the kids are finally old enough to be able to enjoy it," she said smiling softly as she tipped her head down and pressed a kiss to the forehead of the fuzzy crocodile in her arms, while softly swaying to the music Spence and his bandmates were playing on the stage in their garage.

Emily smiled at the sight of the sleeping baby 'crocodile' in JJ's arms and then she glanced over at the kids dancing while Reid and his bandmates played kid friendly Halloween themed music. "They are definitely slowing down… I guess all of the fun and excitement is starting to get to them."

"Me too," Elle yawned as she swayed a sleeping Tiger in her arms.

A princess dressed all in purple walked up to Emily and wrapped her arms around Emily's legs, burying her face against Mommy's knees.

"Are you tired Avery?" Emily asked as she reached down, running her fingers over Avery's dark hair that was held back by a tiara.

When the little girl nodded her headed against Mommy's leg, Emily reached down and picked her up resting her on her hip. Avery quickly buried her face against Mommy's neck and closed her eyes.

"I guess Seth isn't the only one out cold?" Hotch asked as he came up beside Emily, carrying a suit clad baby boy in his arms. "We better get going before Jack or Declan crash on us too…"

Emily nodded, "Come on boys, it's time to go." she called over the din of playing children and groups of conversation among all of the adults, beckoning the two suit clad boys to run over and join them.

"We should get going too hot stuff." Penelope called over to Derek who held a giggling fireman over his head.

Derek nodded. "Didja hear that squirt? Mama says it's time to go home."

Jake nodded his head as Daddy lowered him back down. "Cwooney?"

"Yeah bud, we're going to going to go home and see Clooney." He said as he carried the bouncing boy over to where Penelope stood.

Penelope eyed Josh, Seth, Avery, and Billy passed out in their parents arms; Jack and Declan barely awake as they stood with Emily and Hotch; and then over to Henry and Chloe who were tiredly rubbing the eyes as they stumbled over towards JJ; then she turned to Derek and watched her own son bouncing merrily in Daddy's arms and quirked an eyebrow, "You let him have more candy didn't you?"

"What?" Derek asked attempting to evade the question.

"Canny?" Jake asked having heard the magic word of the evening.

Elle grinned, "Looks like Jake just busted Daddy."

"It's Halloween…" Derek started to say but then stopped in his tracks at the look on his pregnant wife's face.

* * *

"You know you guys didn't have to stick around to help clean up," Spence said, as he looked down from his perch on the ladder where he was taking down decorations.

"Hey man, somebody has to hold the ladder for you. Besides, this is nice… it's kinda like old times almost." Kyle said from where he stood below, holding the ladder for Spencer.

Ben laughed, "Yeah, except we aren't roommates anymore, our girlfriends are now our wives,"

"And we all either have kids or are expecting kids." Mike said with a chuckle.

"Wait Brooke's pregnant?" Chris asked as he turned to look at Mike.

A large grin crossed Mike's face and he nodded his head as the guys all swarmed around him, congratulating him and Brooke.

"So I guess it isn't quite like our old bachelor days being roommates at the old house and playing concerts for the neighbors." Ben said as he looked around at the group.

"No, it's not," Spencer grinned, thinking of all that had changed since he'd been roommates with Kyle and Ben, "it's better."

The guys all smiled as they looked at Spencer and then around the garage. As much as they enjoyed spending time with Spencer's team, it was nice when they had times like this when it was just the old gang hanging out together.

* * *

"Sorry we all left without being able to help cleanup last night." Elle asked as she took a bite of her salad. They were having a girls' day of lunch and a little light shopping since they had the next few days off as well.

"Actually after you all left, Ben, Kyle, Mike, and Chris helped take down the decorations after they got all of the equipment put away. It gave Sarah, Megan, Hannah, Brooke and I a chance to catch up. The guys were pretty quick… then Spence wanted to have a monster movie marathon. I fell asleep in the middle of "Frankenstein" and Spence woke me up to go to bed when "The Mummy" was over." She said with a fond smile on her face at her husband's fondness for black and white movies as she took a sip of iced tea.

"Oh, I bet he took you to bed alright," Emily teased as she wiggled her eyebrows causing the other four to laugh.

Once the laughter calmed down, Penelope pulled out her ever phone. "You have to see all of the adorable shots I got last nights of the kiddos!" she said as she handed her phone to JJ.

"Pen, these turned out fantastic," JJ said as she scrolled through the pictures while Emily and Elle huddled close on either side of her.

"JJ's right PG," Emily said as she looked up from the photos, "these are amazing."

Elle laughed as a candid shot of Billy sticking his tongue out at Will appeared on the screen.

"Thank you my lovelies… what can I say… it's a gift." Penelope replied in typical Penelope Garcia Morgan fashion as she rubbed her baby belly.

"You know what else is a gift?" Elle asked as she looked at the other three.

"Having the next few days off?" Emily asked in response, a blissful smile on her face at the thought of a few days at home.

* * *

"Ugh," Elle groaned as she collapsed into the seat next to Morgan at the round table.

"You okay there Elle or are your Cajuns giving you a run for your money?" Morgan asked over the rim of his coffee cup.

"Hahaha," Elle replied in an unamused tone of voice, "Billy learned how to climb out of his crib. We spent half the night fighting to get him to stay in his crib and go to sleep or to go back to sleep."

"Ooooh" Morgan winced, making a sympathetic face as he slid a cup of coffee across the table to his co-worker, knowing she needed the caffeine since she and Will had been fighting with a willful 19 month old. "You definitely need this then."

"Thanks," Elle replied with a nod as she picked up the cup of coffee, "oh no, looks like Will and I weren't the only ones being worn out by a toddler." She said as she watched an exhausted looking JJ and Reid come through the doorway of the round table room.

Morgan twisted in his seat to see, "Ouch, you guys look you went twelve rounds with some tired cranky toddlers. What's wrong Pretty Boy, did Chloe not like your choice of bedtime story or did all three of them gang up on you together?"

"Actually, we have the first battle with cold and flu season going on at our house." Reid replied as he paused next to Morgan and accepted the two proffered cups of coffee that Morgan held out.

"It started with Chloe yesterday morning. She must have brought it home from pre-school… then Henry got it this morning… hopefully we can manage avoid Josh getting sick too." JJ added as she sank into the seat next to her husband as he sat a cup of coffee in front of her.

Emily winced in sympathy.

"Well, then let's hope we can get this case wrapped up quickly and get home." Morgan said.

Reid took a sip of his ever present coffee and then looked at Morgan and feigned confusion. "Isn't that always our goal?"

"Kid…" Morgan said as he shook his head.

"What?" Reid replied, "It's true."

"Well, he has a point." Emily laughed.

JJ winked at Spence and reached over and squeezed his hand, knowing he was attempting to make light of the situation to cover how worried he was about Chloe, Henry, and Josh.

Just then Penelope entered the round table room followed by Hotch and Rossi.

"Sorry to cut to the quick my Mouseketeers; but," Penelope paused and took a deep breath as she turned to face the team and away from the screen, knowing all too well from looking over the case just what was about to appear on the screen behind her for the team's purview. "Bodies of two unidentified boys were found near Wichita Kansas a week apart, both were Caucasian, both were between the ages of 15 and 17." Penelope explained as she used the remote to control the images on the screen behind her.

"They were each found mangled in the aftermath of a tornado." Emily said stressing the word tornado as she turned to look at Penelope, questioning the reason for them to be called in on this case.

"Yeah," Penelope agreed, "but that's not what did 'em in. The ME has determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head before the storms hit."

"Well the death blow in each case was in almost exactly the same spot." Morgan commented as he looked down at the file in front of him as the team continued to discuss their newest case.

The bodies of both boys were badly damaged, but at this time the ME hadn't been able to determine if that was from the unsub or from the storm. Combine that with the possibility that the unsub was using the tornadoes as a forensic counter measure, and they all knew they were going to see things they'd never seen before by the time Hotch said, "Wheels up in 30," in his usual pre-jet flight all business voice.

* * *

Spence sat watching JJ as she watched out the window, each of them lost in thoughts of their sick children at home. He couldn't get the sounds of Chloe and Henry whimpering for Mommy and Daddy in their fever fueled discomfort the day and night before. They were lucky that Josh had managed to avoid getting sick with what Chloe and Henry had so far.

The engines whined as the wall of dense moist air from the most recent front crossing the central plains states slammed into the jet. The sudden changes in the atmosphere caused the jet to shake ever so slightly, rattling the water glasses on the tables and startling the agents on the plane as they all reached out to keep their water from spilling.

"Ce…central planes, right in the middle of tornado alley." JJ said, as she grabbed her water glass, her nerves on edge between two sick children at home and the weather beating down on the jet at the moment.

Elle nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you have to wonder if this guy has some sort of thing for tornadoes… it's one hell of a coincidence that he starts killing at the same time that there's a series of major storm systems moving through. I mean what are the odds Reid?" she asked as she looked at their resident genius.

Reid pulled himself from his thoughts of Chloe and Henry to focus on the case at Elle's question. "It's hard to give specific statistics, but I'd say it's very high probability given that it's late in the year for tornadoes. Roughly 1,200 tornadoes hit the US every year, more than any other country. The 'tornado season'", Reid said using finger quotes to denote the symbolism of the name "is very geographically based. The Southern Plains experience the highest incidence during May and June. It's even earlier in the spring for the Gulf Coast states and for the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest it tends to fall in June and July. Tornadoes can happen at any time of day or night, but most tornadoes happen between 4 and 9 pm due it being the peak time of day for the atmosphere to be supercharged. If the unsub is drawn to tornadoes for some reason it's likely that he's somewhat familiar with them and knows what to look for. The Super Outbreak earlier this year back in April had 336 confirmed tornadoes that resulted in over 300 lives lost. Kansas is an ideal location for this unsub to use tornadoes as a forensic counter measure since it at wall as Oklahoma and Northern Texas are at the heart of the region most frequently hit by tornadoes." Reid explained.

Elle nodded in understanding as she took in what Reid was saying, knowing from experience that everything Reid was saying could come in handy to the team later on.

Then the screen on the jet blinked and their very own Good Witch of the East appeared on screen.

"Hey, tell us somethin' good Mama" Morgan said as he grinned at his wife's image on the screen.

"Hmm where to start, your sure to be stunningly beautiful daughter has been kicking all night… I think she's upset that Daddy and all her aunts and uncles had to fly away and that Mommy doesn't have magic wand which means we can't come and go by bubble… hence we are here in in the bedazzled Bat Cave," Garcia teased, "and in other news, the local PD have also identified your victims."

A smile crossed the face of each team member as their tech goddess brought her own special brand of lightness to their night for just a moment before getting down to the gruesome details of the case before them.

"I'm putting this all on your tablets, if you'd like to follow along. First up is Jason Meredith, 16 year old runaway from Garden City, Kansas. Mom said he took off over a year ago. Next up is Eric Janelle, 15 year old foster kid from Wichita. He's been gone three weeks." Garcia rattled of the details, "Oh, both of these kids have records, for possession and prostitution." She said, her voice growing soft as she questioned once again what horrors a child had to endure in order to be willing to subject themselves to a life on the streets instead of returning home.

"They were street hustlers." Emily spoke up.

"They were just kids. This could be a sexual predator." Hotch added.

"And a pretty gruesome one at that based on the damage done to these bodies," Elle said shaking her head as she scrolled through the pictures of the victims on the screen of her tablet, "but we have to keep in mind that this might not be a sexual predator. There isn't any visible evidence of that anything sexual happened and both victims were at least partially clothed."

"Either way he's pretty violent given what he did to both of these kids." Morgan added.

"And what if it's not about a sexual act itself, but some sort of fetish involving the victims' missing limbs?" Emily asked.

"Ew, ewww, and again I say ewww…. That is my queue to leave you all and spend time with my binary machines that don't say gross things. You know where to call if you need me, my radiant personality or awesomeness, or my binary babies to track down the dets on the interwebs."

Morgan chuckled as his wife faded from the screen and then found himself gripping the credenza with one hand and Elle's shoulder with the other to keep them both from falling on the floor as the jet flew into another turbulent patch of air.

Emily reached over under the table and grabbed Hotch's hand as they both used their other hand to brace themselves against the table.

Reid calmly reached down and buckled his seat belt and then reached down and picked up JJ's hand from where it was clenched against his knee and interwove his fingers with hers.

Rossi's hand clenched on the arm of his seat, his fingers pressing tightly into the leather as he reached up and made the sign of the cross. Then he took a deep breath, "1,200 hundred tornadoes a year, you say Reid?"

"Yeah," Reid called back over his shoulder as he jostled slightly in his seat, "but actually at our altitude it isn't the tornadoes that we have to worry about. It's the microbursts, a sudden down burst of air and we hit one of those at the wrong altitude and poeuwch, we'll pulverize!" he said with a slight enthusiasm in his voice as he shared the wonder of the scientific phenomena.

Rossi swallowed thickly where he sat in his seat off to the side and behind JJ and Reid. "JJ, I beg of you to make him stop."

JJ looked up at Spence, catching his eye as she shook her head in disbelief. She reached up and pulled him down into a quick kiss, knowing that would stop him from saying anything else… and to be honest she was a little shaken herself between the storm they were flying through and leaving Chloe and Henry while they were sick… she could use a little comfort herself.

* * *

Elle, Morgan, and Emily climbed back in the SUV after walking the site where Eric Janelle's body had been discovered.

"So do you really think this guy is a storm chaser with the University?" Elle asked from the backseat as Morgan put the SUV in drive.

"I don't know… I mean the guy clearly knows an awful damn lot about tornadoes, how they work, when to expect them." He replied with a shrug of his shoulder not really sure about just what they were looking for yet.

"Well," Emily said as she turned to look out the window at the utter devastation and destruction, "maybe he's like your buddy from college and want to experience the true power of God."

Elle nodded. "Like Emily already said, he's impulsive; he's probably young and a loner with nothing to lose. We know he has a mode of transportation… but what do you suppose it is? It'd have to blend in and be able to easily conceal the victims."

Morgan nodded. "Okay so it's probably big and late model… maybe a truck or a van?"

Elle nodded, "Makes sense. You have to wonder if he's living in it sense he's traveling so much chasing the weather…"

Emily nodded in agreement. "You're right, he probably is using his vehicle as his base of operations… what if it's an RV? He'd easily be able to live in it… it's perfect for hiding a victim… and he fit right in with the storm chasers whether he is one or not."

"What is it with people who own RVs?" Elle asked with a shake of her head.

Emily and Morgan both chuckled. Elle was right over the years they had seemed to deal with a disproportionate number of unsubs who'd driven RVs.

* * *

JJ drank deeply from her cup of coffee as she sat down at the table that had been designated for the team's use in the precinct. Jason Meredith's mother had left just a few minutes ago and she sat making notes and focusing her thoughts on the unsub and the trauma he'd likely experienced as a street kid that would lead him to do what he was doing… how much horror did you have to see as a kid on the streets in order to abduct kids and cleave off limbs? She was fairly certain when they found out who this unsub was and what had happened to him it was going to turn her stomach. Very rarely were the unsubs they encountered evil just for evil's sake… more often than not the unsub was a former victim desperately seeking a way to cope, a mentally ill individual off of their medication or untreated, or the like. She could only hope, as always, that they managed to catch this unsub before he could kill again.

* * *

"What are you thinking Reid?" Rossi asked as they walked out of the morgue and headed down the hallway to the parking lot.

Reid shook his head. "I don't know yet. The matching death blows to the head, the dextromethorphan, and chopping the limbs off the victims after their dead? It sounds almost like the unsub is trying to be as merciful as he can other than the horror the victims must have experienced during the time they were tied up… so I guess my question is why?"

"That right there is the question," Rossi replied as they reached the SUV, "What we need is the answer."

* * *

JJ startled and turned at the feeling of a hand on her shoulder. "Hey you." she sighed in relief at the sight of her husband behind her, "Did you and Rossi just get back?"

Spence nodded, "Yeah, Rossi and Hotch are getting some coffee and then we going to all compare notes since Morgan, Emily, and Elle pulled in the parking lot right behind us."

JJ nodded as her phone buzzed and she looked down. "Hey, good news, Chloe and Henry's fevers broke!" she said holding up her phone so that Spence could read the message as well.

A smile of relief crossed Spence's face. "That's great!" he said as he read the message. He looked up, his eyes meeting the dazzling blue eyes of his wife; he only looked away at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Okay, what do we know?" Hotch asked as he followed by the rest of the team joined them. "There is another major system expected tonight. That's going to be an issue if his MO is connected to the weather."

* * *

"Reid," Hotch said as they climbed back into the SUV to head back to the precinct and finish putting together the profile with the rest of the team, "good work. You realizing the unsub is putting a body together instead of taking one apart could be just the break we need."

Reid nodded his thanks for the compliment at Hotch as their eyes met in the rearview mirror.

"Now if we could just figure out what triggered, we might be able to find our unsub." Rossi added.

Reid tipped his head in thought, "and once we narrow it down to the who, I think your right Rossi; we should be able to use the weather patterns to track him down." Reid replied as he leaned slightly forward in his seat.

Hotch nodded, "I agree. When we get back we need to get the finish pulling together the profile and present it."

* * *

Morgan stood with JJ, Elle, and Emily looking at the case board as they worked to piece together what they knew about the victims and what that told them about the unsub.

"Okay, so we've got a white male, probably mid to late twenties driving a late model truck, van, or possibly an RV, but we have no forensic evidence since it keeps getting washed away by the storms." Morgan said as he crossed his arms across his chest in frustration.

"Okay so this guy is racking up a lot of miles to chase the storms in a large vehicle," Elle said as she looked at the photos of the site where Jason Meredith was discovered and the site where Eric Janelle was found… add to that the crime scene that Reid, Hotch, and Rossi had headed out to a bit ago… "So, how is he paying for the gas and supplies that he needs? I think JJ's right; this guy has to be a former street kid, which means he doesn't have a high paying job that he's taking a vacation from."

Emily nodded along, "and with the trauma he's most likely experienced he probably doesn't have the best people skills and the edginess and agitation wouldn't help either with holding down a regular job."

"Okay, so he's probably a handy man or a day laborer, anything transitory where he can get the funds for necessities like gas and food." Morgan replied as he turned to look at his teammates.

"He's got to be from somewhere in tornado alley," JJ said as she took a sip of her coffee, "it's the only way he could be as familiar with tornadoes as he is given that he's been able to place the victims in the right place to be taken by the storms… and for some reason he's latching onto the protective nature of the victims, but I don't understand why… What if he's a symphorophiliac?" JJ asked as she turned to look at the others.

"It would make sense…" Elle said as she looked at the board, "clearly there is something about the weather that's triggering him… and it could be the aftermath… maybe he sees himself as a part of the storms?"

"You think it could be his way of taking back control for something that happened to him during a tornado?" Emily tossed out the idea.

JJ nodded, "Maybe this is his version of getting off on power and control… he's a part of the storm and controls what happens for that brief moment before the victims are taken by the tornado?"

Morgan nodded, "So he gets off on the disaster because he's a part of it… makes sense… hopefully…"

Morgan was cut off by Hotch. "We need to give the profile." Hotch said as he came into the bullpen of the precinct, his coat tails fluttering behind him like a cape followed closely by Rossi and Reid.

"Are you sure we're ready to do that?" Morgan asked as he looked between Hotch, Rossi, and Reid who'd all just returned from the most recent crime scene where the dismembered arms, legs, and head of the latest victim had been discovered early that morning.

"He's accelerating and the weather's driving him to do it." Hotch replied, "Reid noticed that it looks like our unsub isn't taking bodies apart, he's putting one together based on the body parts that have been taken so far."

"Okay, but…" Morgan started.

"Like Frankenstein's monster?" Elle asked, interupting Morgan mid sentence.

"Oh my God… of course… why didn't I see it sooner!" Reid exclaimed. "Elle's right; it's exactly like Frankenstein's monster!" he exclaimed in excitement. "and that helps fit the timeline of our unsub's transformation as well."

"What do you mean pretty boy?" Morgan asked as he looked around at the confused expressions on the rest of the teams' faces, glad that he wasn't the only one that needed further explanation.

Reid grabbed a marker from the tray of the whiteboard and shook it, the ball in the pen making a clicking sound as it rolled back and forth, mixing the ink in the pen. He stepped up to the white board and drew a stick figure. "Most unsubs who have this MO aren't driven by the assistant get the body parts for his creation by digging up fresh graves to get the parts they needed."

"Okay, so you think this guy started out as a grave robber?" Emily asked as she looked at the partial stick figure Reid had drawn on the whiteboard.

"Potentially… so far the first victim was missing his right leg, the second victim both arms, and the third victim his torso… the only pieces missing for this unsub to put together a complete body are the left leg and the head. We can assume that he's leaving the head for last since it's the most difficult part for him to find."

Rossi stood with his thumbs hooked in his jeans' pockets, "Makes sense, it would have to fit his fantasy, whatever that is, perfectly."

Reid nodded, "Which means there is a victim we haven't found yet who's missing a left leg."

"And you think he robbed a grave to get the left leg?" JJ asked.

Reid nodded as he watched Morgan hit speaker and dial the phone, knowing that there could only be one number he'd be dialing at this moment.

"PG at your service, don't let the name fool ya." Garcia said as she answered the phone.

"Baby girl, you're on speaker." Morgan said, giving his wife fair warning that everyone could hear her.

"Garcia, can you take a look for grave robberies in tornado alley over the last five years?" Reid asked.

"Okey dokey, searching…" Garcia said as she rapid fire typed on her key board. "Oh, that is a shockingly big list… who knew grave robbing was so on trend?"

"How many of those involved the bodies of teenage boys?" Rossi asked, hoping they had a hit that brought them another step closer to closing this case.

"Uhhh… none." Garcia said as she looked through the cases she'd pulled up.

"What about morgues and funeral homes?" Emily asked.

"Une momentito," Garcia mumbled as her fingers tapped at the keyboard. "Again, that is a list that should not be that big!" she said, in shock at the length of the list that appeared on her screen. "Eh mostly stolen embalming fluid though…"

"It's often used like PCP, Penelope." Morgan explained.

Garcia took a sip of her tea, "Hokay, I'm feeling optimistic about the youth of America. There are no teenagers involved in this either."

"Okay, try looking for thefts involving left legs, specifically left legs." Reid said, glancing about at the team.

"Okay eewwwh, this is why I can't talk about how my day was at dinner with friends outside of present company… or breakfast…lunch…" she mumbled as she input the search parameters, "Spencer, you scare me." She said softly as her search returned a single result.

"Join the club," Rossi replied.

"We really should have membership cards made up." Elle teased as she turned and winked at JJ while giving Reid a friendly nudge.

A frown appeared on Reid's face as he looked first at Rossi, and then at Elle until finally his eye's met JJ's across the table.

JJ smiled, shook her head, and winked at Spence. Of course her husband had been right.

"A left leg was stolen off a body a year ago," Garcia explained as she read them the details of the case from her screen, "at the Regio Funeral Home in Tulsa. They never found who did it."

"Garcia," Hotch spoke up, "what was the weather like in the area at the time?"

"Uh, thunderstorms and tornadoes… and F2 cyclone hit right around there and then the robbery took place after they evacuated." She said as she skimmed the newspaper article for the details the team needed.

"That's got to be our unsub." Morgan said as he looked around at the team.

"Wait, there's more… the guy who's leg was stolen… he was a 47 year old father of two who died of leukemia." Garcia said as she gave the rest of the details from the story.

"That's a huge jump…" Rossi said, "Preferential child sex offenders don't usually stray from their preferred age range." He said as he looked at Elle, their resident sex crimes specialist.

"I think this is the definitive proof we needed that it isn't about sex for this unsub." Elle said as she looked around at the team, "but rather that the person he's trying to build, to put back together is from that age group. It explains why the ME didn't find evidence of sexual assault, because there wasn't any… and the why the victims were found at least partially clothed. In fact only the victim who was missing his right leg was stripped down to his boxers… and that was most likely because it was easier and more convenient for the unsub to make sure he struck the correct spot with ax or cleaver or whatever tool he's using to dismember the victims."

Hotch nodded in agreement. "Elle's right, it's not about the sex at all… he developed his MO from the funeral home so that he could live out his fantasy and kill in a storm."

"It still doesn't explain what or who he's building." Emily said as she pointed at the whiteboard.

"Whatever it is, this unsub won't stop until he finds the perfect head… it's the final piece to his puzzle." Reid replied.

Hotch nodded solemnly. "Let's get everyone together and give the profile."

Just then, JJ's phone rang, "Jareau" she answered without looking at the caller ID, "Rebecca, Rebecca, slow down… just take a breath…" JJ paused as she listened to Rebecca and then turned to look at Spence with terror filled eyes. "Hang on just a second okay?" she said softly into the phone, knowing that she and Spence needed to get somewhere private for this call. "Hotch?" she asked questioningly as she held her phone against her chest.

"Go," Hotch nodded at them both, "the rest of us will give the profile and then I'll catch up with you after."

* * *

"I don't know what happened… I gave Henry his medicine again this morning… but his fever spiked again… then he was shaking and I…I…" Rebecca said her voice shaking as she was practically in tears as Spence and JJ sat huddled together on the bench in the hallway outside the precinct bullpen listening to her on the other end of the phone.

"Rebecca, it's okay. The doctor is right, febrile seizures are normal for children Henry's age… we'll want to keep a close eye on Josh in case he gets sick too. Febrile seizures are more common in boys than in girls, so my guess is that if Chloe hasn't had one yet, that she's not going to. It's not your fault and there's nothing that you could have done to prevent it." Spence said speaking softly and calmly into JJ's phone that was on speakerphone, as tightened his grip around his wife's trembling shoulders.

JJ cleared her throat, "Spence is right Rebecca," she said as she looked up at her husband's warm brown eyes, "you couldn't have known. Where is he now?"

Rebecca took a shaky breath, "He's resting right now. I'm just waiting on some paperwork and then they're going to release him. Chad stayed at home with Chloe and Josh so that they wouldn't have to come to the hospital."

"Okay, one of us will be on the first flight we can get home. We'll call you as soon as we know what's going on okay?" JJ asked softly, knowing that Rebecca had to be just as terrified as she was.

Rebecca took a deep breath, "Okay. I'll let Henry know. He'll be excited to see Mommy or Daddy." She said knowing how much Chloe and Henry had both wanted Mommy and Daddy while they'd been sick.

Spence clicked the 'End Call' button on JJ's phone and then wrapped his arm around JJ, completely encasing her in his embrace. "JJ, it's okay… Henry is going to be okay."

"He's just a little boy Spence…" JJ mumbled against his shoulder, "Can you imagine how terrified he was… and Mommy and Daddy weren't there…" she sobbed, choking on her words.

"I know, JJ, I know… but we always knew that we might be away while one of the kids were sick… and I didn't lie about what the doctor told Rebecca. Febrile seizures happen to children between the ages of six months five years of age. They only happen with an elevated fever, but they don't necessarily occur when the fever is at its peak. Infants who are younger than 15 months when they have their first febrile seizure are more likely to have repeat occurrences than older children. There's no evidence that they cause brain damage, a decrease in IQ, or learning problems. Febrile seizures aren't epilepsy and there's only a slight increased risk for developing epilepsy compared to the general population. Henry is going to be fine." He whispered in her ear as he rubbed her back.

"What's wrong?" Hotch asked in a concerned tone of voice, his soul filled with dread when he saw the position his two profilers were sitting in.

JJ took a deep breath and sat up, turning away from Spence's shoulder. "It's Henry, he had a febrile seizure." She said, squeezing Spence's hand.

"Rebecca took him to the ER and he's fine. Febrile seizures are normal for children in his age group… but Hotch…" Reid trailed off, unsure how to phrase the request.

"One of you needs to go home?" Hotch asked picking up where Reid left off.

JJ and Reid both nodded.

"Of course, anything I can do?" Hotch asked in a voice filled with concern for his profilers, his friends, and his godson.

"Let us borrow the jet?" JJ asked sheepishly, having a feeling the answer would be no, but still taking a shot anyway.

"I think the budget oversight committee might not appreciate my generosity." Hotch replied solemnly.

"Yeah, well worth a shot right?" JJ said, attempting to smile.

"Check in and let us know everything's alright… unfortunately though, I can only let one of you go… one of the downsides of being on the same team… we can't afford to be two agents down." Hotch said apologetically, "I'll give both a moment to decide who goes home and who stays here." He said excusing himself as he turned and headed back to the rest of the team.

"Spence," JJ said turning to face her husband, having absolutely no idea how they were going to decide who went home to their children and who stayed here to work the case.

Spence wrapped his arms around JJ and kissed her temple. "JJ, you should go home. It has to be you. I know how worried you are… not that I don't want to go home too…" he trailed off.

JJ leaned back from Spence's shoulder and reached up, holding his face in her hands, "You are a good man and a wonderful father Spencer Reid… and I don't know what I would do without you, so promise me that you will be safe."

"I always am." Reid smirked as he leaned down resting his forehead against hers.

"You are not," She argued, a smile crossing her face, "but I appreciate you trying to keep me calm." She said as she tipped her head back and kissed him. "I'll let you know once I have a flight."

"Okay, we'll catch this guy as soon as we can so we can get home too… I promise." Spence whispered.

"I know… I'll see you soon." JJ whispered back as she as she squeezed him one more time and then stepped out of his arms and headed down the hallway, taking the back way into the bullpen to find a desk with a phone that she could use so she wouldn't be a distraction to the team.

Spence watched her walk away, then he turned on his heels, and turned back the way they'd come, more determined than ever to find the unsub and go home.

* * *

Hotch nodded at Reid as he re-entered the bullpen, causing the rest of the team to turn and look.

"Hey man," Morgan said softly, clasping his hand on Reid's shoulder as he walked up next to him, "Henry's a tough kid; he's gonna be okay."

Rossi gave him a silent nod, knowing how much Reid had to be losing his mind staying here while JJ headed home to their babies.

Emily and Elle both gave supportive nods, unable to imagine what it would be like to be in JJ and Reid's position right now and hoping that they never had to find out.

"Just to get you up to speed Reid, Emily and Rossi are going to head over to the university to meet with the storm chasers. The rest of us will go back over everything again and see if there's anything we missed." Hotch spoke.

"Excuse me, Agent Hotchner?" an officer interrupted, "Lieutenant Beasley asked me to come and get you. There's been another abduction; but this time he left a witness. The victim's younger brother was left behind. The parents met officers at the scene. They're on the way here with the younger brother now."

"What do we know?" Hotch asked as he turned to face the officer.

"Um…" the officer flipped open his notepad, "Shaun Rutledge, he's the victim," the officer said as he looked up from his notepad, "he and his younger brother Billy were caught in the rain. They were attacked by a white guy in an RV with a crowbar."

"Okay," Hotch said turning to face the team again, "Rossi and Emily, you head to the University to see if you can find out anything useful from the storm chasers. I'll meet with the Rutledges when they get here. Morgan, Reid, and Elle, look everything over again… there has to be something we missed that will tell us who this unsub is."

With that the team headed off one way, while Hotch split off to talk to Lieutenant Beasley about the latest development in the case.

"Hey, I thought you were out of here?" Morgan asked as the team came upon the desk JJ had commandeered.

"Uh, flights are cancelled because of the weather," she replied.

"How's Henry?" Emily asked.

"He's headed home. They just released him." She answered, her eyes seeking out Spence's.

"That's great news." Rossi replied.

"Where you guys off to?" JJ asked at seeing Emily and Rossi putting on their coats as she stood up from the desk.

"To the University to talk to some storm chasers." Emily replied as she slipped into her coat.

"Hmm, stay dry." JJ offered up.

"Yeah, right." Rossi replied, knowing they would most likely be soaked to the bone by the time they got back.

"Who's that with Hotch?" JJ asked as she came around from behind the desk. Since her attempts to get home were futile with all of the flights being cancelled because of the weather. She might as well rejoin the team in working the case so they could catch the unsub and all go home.

"There's been another abduction, a boy name Shaun Rutledge; it's his younger brother Billy." Reid explained as they all watched Hotch shake hands with the parents of the latest missing boy.

"Says a young white guy in an RV attacked them with a crowbar in the rain." Morgan added, turning to look at JJ.

"He's also changed his victim selection criteria," Reid continued, "the boy he grabbed gets straight As, plays football, even volunteers at his church."

"So he wanted him so badly he was willing to leave a witness?" JJ asked as she turned back to look at Spence.

Reid nodded. "Which suggests he's losing touch with reality and his delusions are starting to take over."

"What is it about this kid that's so attractive to him though?" Morgan asked.

"He's teenage and Caucasian like the others, right?" JJ questioned, wanting to get up to speed so that she could help.

"And there's the protective instincts again, just like with all the previous victims." Elle added.

They all stood looking through the window of the office where Hotch sat with Shaun Rutledge's family and interviewing the younger brother Billy.

JJ watched the sad expression on the young blond haired Billy; she couldn't help but be reminded of three younger blond haired children a thousand miles to the east. And then it clicked for her… the expression on poor Billy's face… "Maybe it's love," JJ said turning around to look at Spence and Morgan, "What if he's trying to recreate someone he loves?"

"It is an emotion that drives us to extremes." Morgan said thoughtfully.

"If he's trying to recreate someone, then it's probably someone that he loved and lost." Reid added to the conversation.

"Wait," JJ said turning from the window again, "you said he was with his big brother, right?" she asked as she looked back and forth between Morgan, Spence, and Elle.

"The protective instincts… it always a male victim… he's trying to recreate his big brother!" Elle exclaimed, catching on to where JJ was going with her thought process.

At that moment Hotch came out from interviewing Billy Rutledge with the composite sketch of the unsub that the sketch artist had been able to put together from Billy's description. "Billy was able to give us a description," he said handing the sketch over to Morgan.

Within minutes Garcia was able to narrow their unsub down to one Travis James' and tell the sad traumatic tale that had led him to this point of no return in his life.

"He's trying to use the storm to try to bring Tucker back… just like Frankenstein." Reid said finally understanding Travis' connection to tornadoes.

"Let's go. We'll meet up with Rossi and Emily on the way." Hotch said, turning and heading for the doors of the precinct.

* * *

"You gotta stay still dude. Trust me, it's all good." Travis James yelled to be heard above the howling winds of the storm as he knelt above the boy he'd selected to be his brother with an axe in his hand. "Hey, we ain't got time for this, it's comin' now!" he yelled as he wrestled with the boy who would soon be his brother on the ground. "You want the hard way or the easy way?"

Shaun groaned behind the duct tape covering his mouth and struggled against his bindings, refusing to make it easy for his captor… and then he heard the sirens.

Travis raised the axe above his head, preparing to strike as a black SUV sped up the driveway of the old abandoned home he'd found. "NO! Who're they?" He pulled his soon to be brother up right and used him as a shield, holding the axe across the boy's chest.

"Travis James! FBI! Put the weapon down!" Morgan called out as he, JJ, Reid, and Lieutenant Beasley approached with their weapons drawn.

"You get back!" Travis called out, fighting to stay upright with the struggling boy in his arms, the weight of the axe, and the wind that was rapidly picking up.

"We can't do that!" Morgan called back.

"I said stay back! Are you hard a hearin' or somthin'?" Travis replied.

"Just let Shaun go and we can work this out!" Morgan replied as they edged closer.

"That's his name you know!" JJ yelled hoping that personalizing the victim for Travis and getting him to identify with him would get Travis to surrender, "He has a little brother too! We know you saw them when you attacked them."

"Just get out of here… go, PLEASE!" Travis begged, desperate to be reunited with his brother… the one person who'd protected him and made him feel safe.

"Travis, Tucker would NOT want this." Reid called out, hoping he could reason with the unsub. "He'd want to protect you like he did with Roscoe Gulch."

"That bastard was guilty!" Travis called out, railing at the sky with his axe and barely continuing to hang onto the boy.

"Just let him go and we can help you." JJ practically begged, seeing for a moment the boy that had been before the craziness of the last year, before a life on the streets, before foster care, and before his innocence was stolen by Roscoe Gulch.

"WE DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Travis screamed to be loud enough to be heard above the storm.

And then a swirling vortex dropped out of the sky sounding like the thunder of God as it ate its way through the tree line on the far side of the abandoned farm.

"WE NEED TO GET TO COVER NOW!" Lieutenant Beasley called out as the debris in the air picked up and swirled violently looming ever closer.

"Come on man, put the weapon down!" Morgan tried again, unwilling to give up on the young man and knowing that they needed to save Shaun.

Travis let go off the boy who reminded him of Tucker and threw the axe. He turned and stooped; grabbing what was meant to be his brother's new body and walked towards the gale force winds and the swirling vortex.

Reid and Morgan ran to Shaun and quickly cut him free from the zip ties binding his hands and feet. Reid wrapped Shaun's arm around his shoulders as he and JJ helped Shaun to his feet.

Morgan popped up from where he knelt cutting Shaun's feet and turned to go after Travis. He paused to block his face as he was pelted with debris and then stopped in sheer awe of the storm, debating if he had time to tackle Travis where he stood and drag him back to shelter.

"WE GOTTA GO! WE GOTTA GO!" JJ yelled as she grabbed Morgan's sleeve, knowing that they didn't have a moment to spare with the tornado bearing down on them… they were cutting it all too close as it was, and there was no way she was going to have to tell Penelope that her husband was sucked up in a tornado.

Beasley opened the storm cellar door and guided Shaun down; following behind him and leaving the door open for the three FBI Agents.

JJ, Reid, and Morgan reached the storm cellar door and all turned to look just as Travis James, the remains of his previous victims, and the house, and the RV were all sucked up by the tornado.

Reid pressed his hand against the small of JJ's back guiding her down the storm cellar stairs as he followed close behind her. Morgan brought up the rear, closing and securing the storm cellar door behind him.

They all turned and looked at the cellar door waiting to see if it would hold as the heard the howling wind of the tornado move directly overhead and the heard the latch of the storm cellar door rattle. Then they all took a deep breath as they sank onto the benches that lined the walls, counting themselves as lucky to have had a close encounter with a tornado and to have lived to tell the tale.

JJ gasped, catching her breath as she wrapped her arms around Spence's waist while his arm wrapped around her shoulder holding her tight in the aftermath of their near death experience as the tornado raged directly above their heads.

And then as quickly as it came up on them, the tornado was over and an eerie silence engulfed them as they sat waiting in the storm cellar to make sure they were really in the clear.

Several long minutes passed without anyone speaking and then a loud banging noise came from the storm cellar door.

"MORGAN! JJ! REID!" Hotch yelled as he pounded his fist on the storm cellar door. He hoped to God they were inside… because if they weren't… he didn't even want to entertain the thought that they weren't as an option.

"Hotch!" Morgan yelled, rushing up the stairs and undoing the latch on the door. "We're here Hotch, we're here!"

Between Hotch lifting and Morgan pushing, they were able to easily get the storm cellar door open again.

"Man am I glad to see you Hotch!" Morgan exclaimed as he took in the sight of his Unit Chief's face in the moonlight.

Hotch smiled, "Me too Morgan, me too." He said as he stepped out of the way so that Morgan could clear the way for everyone else to exit as well.

JJ looked across the storm cellar to Shaun, "Your parents and your brother Billy are waiting for you at the Police station. They're going to be very happy to see you."

Shaun gave a dazed nod and then headed up the stairs guided by Lieutenant Beasley.

Spence gave JJ a squeeze and then he stood up and held out his hand, "Come on, let's go find out how soon we can go home."

* * *

"Thanks Bec. The weather's supposed to break sometime tomorrow. We'll give you a call as soon as we find out when we're going to be able to take off. So," JJ paused as Spence sat down beside her and handed her a cup of coffee, which she happily accepted, "are they still up?"

Rebecca laughed on the other end of the phone. "Of course they are. I can always tell when they're feeling better; they refuse to go to bed without their bedtime story and saying goodnight to Mommy and Daddy." She said as she stepped out of her room and across the hall to Henry's room where Chloe sat with him on his bed. They were both in their pajamas and Henry was tucked under the covers while Chloe held their bedtime story.

JJ teared up at the thought of their children as she leaned into Spence and tipped the phone so that they could both listen to the conversations on the other end.

"Hey guys, guess who's on the phone?" Rebecca said as she sat down on the edge of Henry's bed.

"Mommy!" "Daddy!" Chloe and Henry exclaimed in unison.

"Hey! Hi sweetie, hi little man." JJ replied, perking up at the sounds of their young children's voices on the other end of the phone.

"Hi princess, hey big guy," Spence added offering his own greetings.

"Hey little man, how are you feeling? Bec told me you had to go to the um… doctor." JJ prodded, wanting to get a sense for how their son was holding up in what was probably just as scary of an experience as it had been for everyone else.

Henry however, always the resilient child, had already long forgotten about his experiences earlier in the day. "You coming home Mommy and Daddy?" Henry asked.

"Not tonight big guy." Spence replied. "There are some big storms with thunder and lightning and we have to wait for those to be over before it will be safe for us to fly. Tomorrow we'll be home though, okay?"

"Okay!" Chloe replied anxious to see Mommy and Daddy again.

"You sound excited to see us princess, did you miss Mommy and me?" Spence asked as he smiled down at JJ.

"Uh huh. I always miss you when you gone." Chloe replied.

"Oh sweetie, we miss you when we're gone too." JJ replied. "Are you ready for story time?"

"Uh huh" came the matching reply from the oldest two Reid children through the phone.

"Are you sure?" Spence teased as he winked at his wife.

"Uh huh." Chloe replied nodding vigorously even though Mommy and Daddy couldn't see her. "We has our jammas on and Bec hewped us brush our teeth Daddy. We gots da book out and everything."

"Uh huh. We gots da book. We's ready Daddy." Henry chirped in agreement with his big sister.

"Okay, if you're sure. Mommy?" Spence said as he looked down at JJ.

JJ smiled at Spence as she recited Chloe and Henry's bedtime story from memory. "Once there was a baby star, he lived up near the son. And every night at bedtime that baby star wanted to have some fun." JJ said, swallowing back her tears, "he would shine and shine and fall and shoot and twinkle oh so bright." She smiled thinking of how fitting the description of the baby star was for her own baby boy, "And he said, 'Mommy, I'll run away if you make me say good night.' And then his Mommy kissed him on his sparkly nose and said, 'no matter where you go, no matter where you are, no matter how big you grow, and even if you stray far, I'll love you forever because you're always my baby star.'"

"Night Mommy, night Daddy," two tired little voices chimed over the phone.

"Works every time," Rebecca said as she took the phone and looked down at Henry and Chloe who were falling asleep leaning against each other. "We'll see you when you get home tomorrow."

"Thanks… and Bec… thanks… you don't know how much it means to Spence and I that you care as much about our kids as we do… if we…" JJ paused, overcome by the emotion of the day.

"Bec, what I think JJ is trying to say is that we don't know what we'd do without you… will do without you to be honest once you have your degree and are ready to move on to other things." Spence said giving words to the fact that Rebecca was in her senior year.

"You guys are family to me… so I don't know what I'd do without you either." Rebecca replied, touched by JJ and Spencer's words.

"Thanks, we'll see you tomorrow." JJ replied. And then JJ and Spence chorused, "Goodnight" together, choosing to leave unsaid just how close Rebecca and their children had come to experiencing life without them as they hung up.


End file.
